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.”


MORE INFO. 567 Investment Boosts Medical Coatings Capacity


Raleigh Coatings, a leading UK specialist in medical adhesive coatings, has made a £500,000 investment to build a new Class 7 clean-room facility complete with a dedicated silicone gel adhesive coating line, in response to growing demand for its coating services from the healthcare sector.


In the planning since 2010, construction of the facility and commissioning of the bespoke ‘three zone’ clean line realises an investment for the £5 million turnover company of in excess of £500,000.


Scheduled for operation initially for eight hours per five day week, plans are to increase production to 24/7. It is capable of producing over one million metre square of adhesive coated products per annum.


Raleigh Coating's new Class 7 Clean Room facility and coating line


Raleigh works extensively in the field of medical adhesive coating and is a specialist contract coater in the sector. Offering a lab-bench through to final production service for silicone gel, aqueous and solvent based coatings it is one of a few organisations in the UK to offer a specialist pilot line facility, enabling customers to test coatings prior to moving to full production.


MORE INFO. 568 Bicycle Therapeutics Receives Drug Discovery Funding


Bicycle Therapeutics have secured a tranched equity financing of £3.75 million to invest in selection of drug candidates using its bicyclic peptide technology platform. Current investors, Atlas Venture, Novartis Venture Fund, SR One and SV Life Sciences were joined by new investor Astellas Venture Management, the venture capital arm of Astellas Pharma.


Bicycle, co-founded by Sir Gregory Winter and Professor Christian Heinis has developed a proprietary bicyclic peptide technology that enables the discovery of a new class of drug candidates with antibody- like selectivity and specificity that can be manufactured with economics similar to new chemical entities. The company is applying the technology to drug discovery projects in oncology, metabolic and inflammatory diseases and will also make the platform accessible for


collaborative discovery with pharma partners.


Rolf Günther, CEO, said, “This financing marks our transition from technology development to drug discovery, using our bicyclic peptide libraries, high throughput screening and lead optimisation technology. We are now expanding our discovery efforts to address multiple drug target classes. We welcome Astellas Venture Management as a new strategic investor, further endorsing the potential of our platform.”


Sakae Asanuma, President & CEO of Astellas Venture Management LLC, said “We are extremely excited to be part of Bicycle’s promising innovation. Bicycle’s unique proprietary platform technology, which generates a new modality of peptide therapeutics, has enormous potential that can benefit the entire healthcare community.”


MORE INFO. 569 LGC Acquires Leading Bioanalytical Sciences Business


LGC and Quotient Bioresearch have reached agreement on the sale by Quotient of its Bioanalytical Sciences division, which now forms part of LGC’s Health Sciences division. The acquisition will enable LGC to provide an enhanced range of products and services to the pharmaceutical sector including bioanalysis, materials science and reference materials amongst others.


Under the terms of the transaction, Quotient and LGC have committed to collaborate as preferred partners on the provision of Bioanalytical Sciences. This will enable clients to continue to benefit from the early development services offered by the Quotient group including clinical trials, metabolism and radiolabelling. The Bioanalytical Sciences business will continue to trade using the “Quotient” name under its new ownership for the time being.


The transaction follows the sale two years ago by Quotient to LGC of HFL Sport Science; both divisions are based at Fordham, near Cambridge.


Jeremy Cook, MD of LGC’s Health Sciences said, “We’re delighted to have acquired Quotient Bioanalytical Sciences, a high quality business which is complementary to our existing activities. We continue to develop our range of first-rate services in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical sectors by offering our customers a unique mix of technical experience, leading edge facilities and knowledgeable people.”


Dr Steve Pleasance, MD of Quotient Bioanalytical Sciences said “LGC’s focus on complex analytical chemistry, high quality science and service delivery make them a natural home for our business. Both our organisations have reputations built upon quality and innovation and LGC’s global presence will help support the continued growth of services to our customers.”


MORE INFO. 571


Trade Deficit Shows Slight Downturn


UK trade deficit narrowed in November 2012 largely due to exports having risen more than imports, official figures have shown. The seasonally-adjusted deficit on goods and services totalled £3.5 billion in November, compared with £3.7 billion in October.


The rise in exports was led by chemicals, which edged up by £446 million. The UK’s total goods exports increased by 2.9% to £24.8 billion, while imports rose by 1.1% to £34 billion.


The UK’s export and import of services in November remained unchanged. Services exports were valued at £15.5 billion, while imports totalled £9.8 billion.


A full report is available on the Office for National Statistics website at www.ons.gov.uk


MORE INFO. 572


Mark Jackson UK Cleanrooms Projects Manager, performing a pre install cleanroom build


Connect 2 Cleanrooms is pleased to announce completion of a move to a new location in Halton, Lancaster. The new premises are just over 15 miles away from the old site.


Amongst the main motivating factors behind the move was access to greater space from 3,000ft2


to 10,000ft2 . With


considerable room for future office expansion, most of new space is taken up by the warehouse which can now provide a more efficient and speedier delivery service for customers said the company.


A showcase cleanroom is also planned for this year along with open days when customers can visit this specialist environment.


The company’s consumables division Cleanroomshop.com, is housed on the ground floor which is large enough to accommodate the extra Business Development Coordinators that will be recruited in 2013.


The move has also brought Connect 2 Cleanrooms closer to their existing local suppliers, enabling a strengthening of relationships developed over the past 10 years to continue.


The closer proximity to Lancaster and its University will also widen the recruitment base.


Joe Govier MD, told Labmate UK & Ireland: “The move to the new premises is a key strategy for the further development and expansion of Connect 2 Cleanrooms. The extended warehouse space and office layout have been designed to drive efficiency throughout the business which will benefit our customers in aspects such as price, speed of delivery and customer care. We are incredibly excited about the future and look forward to working with customers both in the UK and internationally in the supply of bespoke modular cleanroom solutions for critical environments.”


For details of the new location contact 01524 812899 or visit www.connect2cleanrooms.com


MORE INFO. 570


Connect 2 Cleanrooms Settles in New Premises


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