CPI to establish £38 million Innovation Centre  

The Government announced last month that The Centre for Process innovation (CPI) will establish and manage a new £38 million 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.

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

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”

Dr Chris Dowle, Director of Sustainable Processing at CPI, said: “The National Biologics Industry Innovation Centre (NBIIC) will build upon the UK’s excellent research base with its strong pipeline of new potential biopharmaceutical products to help deliver a leading UK industry in bio-manufacturing. In this rapidly growing global marketplace, innovation in manufacturing will be vital to UK success and this will be a primary focus for the NBIIC.”