CPI to build new centre

The government has announced that the North East-based Centre for Process innovation (CPI) will establish and manage a new £38m centre to encourage innovative solutions in the UK healthcare market.

The National Biologics Industrial Innovation Centre (NBIIC) will be a large open access facility that will assist companies of all sizes in the proving and scaling-up of processes to manufacture new biologic medicines such as antibodies and vaccines.
Its development will be overseen by CPI, the UK innovation centre serving the process industries which is based at Wilton on Teesside, with additional sites in Middlesbrough and Sedgefield, County Durham.

While CPI’s Wilton site will play a lead role in the project, the CPI is also considering rolling it out as a multi-site development with partner organisations from elsewhere.

The centre is part of the Government’s ‘Strategy for UK Life Sciences’ launched in 2011 to strengthen the UK’s life-science sector.

Nigel Perry, Chief Executive Officer at CPI, said: “This is hugely significant for the vitally important Pharmaceutical Industry in the UK. It is also hugely significant for CPI and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and underlines the Government’s commitment to support manufacturing in the UK.”

The NBIIC will support the commercialisation of research by promoting collaboration between academia, the National Health Service and industry.

Minister for universities and science David Willetts said: Our investment in the NBIIC as part of the Strategy for UK Life Sciences makes clear the level of our commitment to a sector we see as vital to the UK’s long-term economic prospects. We want the UK to remain a location of choice for investment in an increasingly competitive and globalised health life-sciences sector.

“Life-sciences is one of the most truly international sectors – so if we are to continue to be a world player and compete in the global race we must do everything we can to support it. The new centre sends a clear message to the world that we are creating the best environment to invent and manufacture biologic medicines and continue to be a world leader in life sciences.”

The public investment in this medicine scale-up and production proving centre has been made to boost the UK pharmaceutical industry in the rapidly growing biologics market and increase the manufacturing capability for products that are developed in this country.

The centre aims to bridge the gap in biologic capability between research and manufacturing. It will strengthen the UK’s attractiveness as one of the best investment locations for life-sciences companies.

CPI works with industry, academia and the public sector to scale-up and prove the next generation of products and processes.