The UK biotech sector may be too fragmented and cash-poor to follow the consolidation of BTG and Protherics on Thursday, but sector reorganisation is likely as the economic climate worsens.

Biotech's high-risk proposition - a single product may not prove profitable after years of costly development - turns investors off even in the best of times. As investors abandon high risk, biotechs will find it harder to sustain expenditure and gain necessary refinancing. For many smaller companies, the mantra of "adapt or die" will loom large.