The ‘Oracle of Oxford’ has a biotech problem

Neil Woodford, the famed investor who has become a singular evangelist for U.K. biotech, is in a tough spot. A bunch of ill-fated bets on fledgling drug developers went sour, and now he’s had to freeze investor redemptions to keep his flagship fund solvent.

That’s bad for Woodford, and it’s bad for any of his clients who’d like him to stop setting their money ablaze. But it’s also an unfortunate turn of events for biotech companies in Woodford’s native country, which isn’t quite the vibrant investor climate one finds in the U.S. and China.

If Woodford’s quixotic relationship with biotech becomes a cautionary tale in London financial circles, it could have a knock-on effect among other investors.

“It’s not cataclysmic, but it means London is a bit of a backwater when it comes to life sciences,” Polar Capital fund manager Daniel Mahony told Bloomberg.