First Biomedical Catalyst Awards Allocated


The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Technology Strategy Board have made the first funding awards under the joint £180 million Biomedical Catalyst. The awards, announced by Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts at the British Business Embassy’s life sciences summit at Lancaster House will inject nearly £10m into 14 universities and 18 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).


The MRC ‘Confidence in Concept’ awards, totalling £7.4 million, has been allocated to universities grants of between £360,000 and £750,000 to help


them progress more promising research ideas towards clinical testing.


Eighteen SMEs, awarded funding totalling nearly £2.5 million by the Technology Strategy Board, will enable the companies to explore and evaluate the commercial potential of an early-stage scientific idea, to validate the scientific concepts, fully test the market opportunity and construct future development plans.


Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: “The UK’s world leading life sciences industry


is changing fast and we need to stay ahead of the game. The Biomedical Catalyst will help bridge the so-called ‘valley of death’ that exists between when a bright new idea is developed in the laboratory and the point when a new drug or technology can be invested in by the market.


This will support our most innovative life sciences SMEs and academics, drive growth and benefit patients.”


Dr Wendy Ewart, Deputy Chief Executive of the MRC, said: “The MRC’s Confidence in Concept


awards will empower leading UK universities to respond quickly to emerging translational opportunities as they arise.


They will give academic researchers the opportunity to generate enough evidence to leverage further investment from a variety of sources to progress the best ideas, helping to bridge the gap between discovery and development.”


The Biomedical Catalyst awards were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in December 2011 to deliver growth to the UK life sciences sector.


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BIA Welcomes First Awards Made Through the Biomedical Catalyst


The BioIndustry Association welcomed the announcement by the Medical Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board that the first awards have been made through the Biomedical Catalyst.


Steve Bates, BIA CEO, said: "UK biotech companies will now be able to rapidly progress early stage projects thanks to the first Biomedical Catalyst feasibility awards. It is great to see this important source of government funding practically and speedily delivering for companies in our sector.


"These awards demonstrate the UK government's commitment to early stage life science companies. We look forward to further awards being announced later in the year. With luck some of the next generation of UK biotech companies will be born as a result of the Confidence in Concept awards also announced today."


Glyn Edwards CEO of Summit Corporation Plc, a UK biotech company awarded one of the first feasibility grants in the Biomedical catalyst scheme said: "We are delighted to have received this support. This type of funding is really important for life sciences companies especially for early stage programmes. The process was simple and quick which makes a real difference to us."


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Glucose Monitors Help Children at Great Ormond Street


To celebrate the installation of the 50,000th Accu- Chek®


Inform II blood glucose meter in the UK,


manufacturers Roche presented a commemorative gold-coloured meter to the world renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH). GOSH has been using the Accu-Chek Inform II meters for point of care blood glucose testing throughout the Trust since 2011.


Christopher Parker, Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics UK & Ireland, presents a commemorative Accu-Chek® Inform II blood glucose meter to Di Robertshaw, Practice Educator, Great Ormond Street Hospital.


Blood glucose monitoring is vital to the role of the Hypoglycaemia Clinical Nurse Specialists at the hospital. For paediatric patients with hypoglycaemia, it is extremely important to gain regular blood glucose levels as accurately and


quickly as possible for them to receive safe and appropriate treatment.


“At Roche we focus on medicines and diagnostics that will help patients live longer, better lives,” commented Christopher Parker, Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics UK & Ireland. “Our aim with the AccuChek Inform II is to ensure that healthcare professionals have the very best diagnostic systems to help improve patient outcomes. We are delighted to be marking the milestone of the 50,000th Accu-Chek Inform II by presenting this commemorative meter to such a world leading institution as Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.”


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Zetasizer Nano Delivers Essential Data in Environmental Project


Researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, working as part of a major Canadian initiative to investigate the aquatic and environmental aspects of nanoparticles, are using the Zetasizer Nano from Malvern Instruments to characterise nanoparticle behaviour in biological and aqueous matrices.


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Molecular Profiles and Onyx Scientific have entered an alliance that will deliver end-to-end services from initial drug discovery through to early and late phase manufacturing.


Customers will benefit from Onyx Scientific’s specialism in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production and initial solid state screening, combined with Molecular Profiles’ expertise in formulation and analytical development and early


Size is known to affect nanoparticle toxicity and toxicology and the technique of dynamic light scattering (DLS) provides the average size behavior in solution. As implemented in the Zetasizer Nano, it delivers information for physical characterisation in terms of charge and solubility.


Professor Greg Goss is Director of the Office of Environmental Nano Safety (OENS) in the Department of Biological Sciences at the


University of Alberta. “Dynamic light scattering is now recognised as a basic characterisation technique in this area of work and the regulators are familiar with the measurement, its results and limitations. In the past we’ve used TEM but this works better in conjunction with DLS since we can now study size in solution in a way that is simple to use and with only minimal need for sample preparation,” he said. “DLS is the only technique on campus that can provide size information in solution, without drying the samples.”


The Zetasizer Nano is particularly being used by this research group to study the interactions of particles such as silver, titanium, silica and polymer coated quantum dots.


MORE INFO. 578 Alliance Spans Drug Discovery to Manufacture


phase clinical trial manufacturing. Onyx Scientific also has sites in India providing customers with late stage clinical trial and commercial manufacturing services, completing the full service offering and accelerating drug candidates from discovery through to manufacture.


Denise Bowser, Commercial Director at Onyx Scientific commented: “We are excited that the combination of the two companies will be able to


offer customers the full range of chemistry and formulations services. Technical teams across these two best-in-class organisations will be routinely working together and our customers can rest assured that they will receive a seamless service throughout their drug discovery and development programmes.”


Claire Madden-Smith, Commercial Director at Molecular Profiles commented: “We are delighted


to have partnered with Onyx Scientific and look forward to realising the benefits of this strategic alliance.


“Our customers are now able to access services ranging from API production through to formulation development and late stage manufacturing, providing flexibility and the opportunity to experience a consistent delivery across these stages.”


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