Drug Development Scores Big in U.K. Funding Initiative

Drug development and continuous manufacturing in the U.K. will receive an estimated $82.5 million boost from government and industry sources as part of a new $188 million effort spread across six key research hubs.

Under the plan, the U.K. government will grant £60 million ($76.4 million) to be distributed evenly among the six hubs. Another £87.5 million ($111.4 million) in contributions is pledged from a range of industrial and academic partners, including several from Big Pharma.

In addition to drug development and continuous manufacturing, the other four hubs include compound semiconductor manufacturing, advanced powder processes, composites manufacturing, and advanced metrology.

The U.K.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will fund the government portion. The hubs will draw participation from 17 universities and 200 industrial and academic partners with an aim to upgrade that nation’s manufacturing capabilities.

Targeted Healthcare

Noting that the current “one-size-fits-all” approach to drug development is challenged by the ability to treat patients as individuals, the drug development hub, officially labeled “Targeted Healthcare,” will address manufacturing challenges in ensuring that new targeted biological medicines can be developed quickly and manufactured at a cost that is affordable to society.

Led by Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker of University College, London, the Targeted Healthcare hub will receive an EPSRC grant of £10 million ($12.7 million) and a total contribution from all project partners of £13.7 million ($17.4 million).

Several top pharmaceutical companies are among the more than 35 industrial partners participating in the hub, including:

Allergan
AstraZeneca/Medimmune
Eli Lilly
GlaxoSmithKline (Biopharma)
GlaxoSmithKline (Cell/Gene Therapy)
Merck & Co.
Merck KGaA
Novo Nordisk
Pfizer
Roche

The participating universities in the Targeted Healthcare hub are UCL, University of Warwick, Imperial College London, The University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, and Loughborough University.

Continuous Manufacturing

Research in the Continuous Manufacturing and Advanced Crystallization hub will be driven by the need to produce medicines and materials through novel manufacturing processes.

The goal is to quickly and reliably design a process to manufacture a given material into the ideal particle using an efficient continuous process, and ensure its effective delivery to the consumer.

Led by Professor Alastair Florence of the University of Strathclyde, the Continuous Manufacturing hub will receive an EPSRC grant of £10 million ($12.7 million) with total contribution from all project partners of £31.2 million ($39.7 million).

The industrial and academic partners include:

AstraZeneca
GlaxoSmithKlein
Novartis
Bayer
Pfizer
Lilly
Takeda
Encap /Capsugel
Rutgers University
Purdue University

The participating U.K. universities include the University of Strathclyde, University of Cambridge, Loughborough University, University of Bath, University of Sheffield, Imperial College London, and University of Leeds.

‘Industrial Strategy’

Development of the six research hubs is part of the U.K government’s “Industrial Strategy” to further economic growth.

“Developing new innovative manufacturing techniques will help U.K. industry create new products, explore more business opportunities and ensure the U.K. becomes more competitive and productive,” Jo Johnson, Universities and Science Minister, said.

Monday’s announcement follows the government’s early commitment to invest an additional £2 billion ($2.55 billion) per year for research and innovation by 2020-21 in the U.K.’s research base for areas such as biotechnology and robotics.

(Source: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)