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The East of England: growing the future of growing the future of life sciences in the UK

The East of England: growing the future of growing the future of life sciences in the UKgrowing the future of life sciences in the UK

The East of England: growing the future of growing the future of life sciences in the UK

The East of England: growing the future of life sciences in the UK

The East of England: growing the future of life sciences in the UK

The future is in the east

The eastern region shows that success breeds success, with science parks full to bursting and a mature ecosystem of tailored start-up support for businesses. The region’s start-up support institutions include Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, a leader in open innovation and collaborative working; St John’s Innovation Centre, the first accredited Business and Innovation Centre in the east of England; and the specialist laboratories of BioPark at Welwyn Garden City. The Bradfield Centre is a new centre for technology start-ups and scale-ups that can support 600 entrepreneurs within Cambridge Science Park.

The region has created funded accelerator programmes such as the

MedTech Accelerator; SBRI Healthcare, which brings new technologies into the NHS; and Medovate, which is designed to fill the funding gap for medical technology entrepreneurs.

The UK’s leading industry networks are based in the eastern region – including One Nucleus, the global life sciences industry network; Cambridge Wireless, the leading international community for the application of wireless, mobile and associated technologies; and the Stem Cell Network. The region is rich in dedicated life science and business parks for life sciences - Granta Park, Cambridge Science Park, Chesterford Research Park, and Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial the new diagnostic tool.

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost

NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology

explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost

late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial the new diagnostic tool. the new diagnostic tool. NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial the new diagnostic tool. the new diagnostic tool.

had already developed microchip technology had already developed microchip technology

explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial the new diagnostic tool.

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company late stage cancer diagnosis. His company

NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost his wife to colon cancer in 2014, he became acutely aware of the devastating effect of late stage cancer diagnosis. His company late stage cancer diagnosis. His company had already developed microchip technology to sense chemicals in order to ‘sniff out’ explosives. Owlstone adapted this in order to create a breathalyser that can detect early to create a breathalyser that can detect early stages of lung cancer. The Eastern Academic Health Science Network linked Owlstone with NHS organisations that wanted to test and trial

When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost When Owlstone co-founder Billy Boyle lost

Case study

Owlstone

Look east for life science entrepreneurship and innovation

The eastern region: where science and wellbeing grow together

The eastern region’s life science firms and institutions make a £2.6 billion contribution to national and local economies every year. The combined workforce employed in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices research and development totalled 19,000 people in 2016, with another 39,300 full-time equivalent workers in the region’s NHS.

Pharmaceutical companies have recognised this unique resource and as a result the region hosts the global headquarters of AstraZeneca and the major UK institutes including: The Wellcome Sanger - which leads the way in genome research; the Rothampstead Institute - offering an unrivalled research hub for agriculture and food; the MRC Labatory for Molecular Biology; The

Quadram Institute - which works at the interface between food and human biology and the Babraham Institute - with an international reputation for work on ageing and development.

AstraZeneca is increasing its investment in the region and has chosen the Cambridge Biomedical Campus as the home of its new £500 million global HQ. This is scheduled to open in 2018, employing 2,000 people. The campus already hosts the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, Cancer Research UK, the Institute of Metabolic Science and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (consisting of the world-famous Addenbrooke’s and Rosie Hospitals): forming Europe’s largest research cluster, a formidable hub of healthcare expertise.

Billy Boyle commented:

‘Our lung cancer breathalyser has the potential to save 10,000 lives and the NHS £245 million within three years of launch. My vision is for the lung cancer breathalyser to be used in a national screening programme, as well as in GP surgeries when patients first present with worrying symptoms.’

Steeped in history and backed by more than a millennium of knowledge creation and dissemination, England’s eastern region is where the future is being made. Having led the world in learning and pioneering new technology, the eastern region is now at the forefront of transforming science and wellbeing through innovation.

While every individual innovation is impressive, it is the intellectual hothouse that leads to multiple innovations in

companies across the region, that makes the east of England a powerful resource for the UK economy. Its combined clout makes the region the largest life sciences hub outside the USA, with a talent pool of unrivalled depth and expertise.

Building on the government’s ambition in the Life Science and wider Industrial Strategy, the time is right to develop the ambitions around place for the value of the wider UK economy.

The MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, based on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, has made revolutionary contributions to science. These include pioneering X-ray crystallography to determine protein structures, the sequencing of DNA and the development of monoclonal antibodies. Eleven Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work carried out by Laboratory for Molecular Biology scientists.

The Quadram Institute’s multi-million pound state-of-the-art food and health research and endoscopy centre will open in purpose-built facilities in Norwich in 2018. It will be at the forefront of the interface between food science, gut biology and health, developing solutions to worldwide challenges in food related disease and human health.

The Wellcome Sanger Institute is the premier centre of genomic discovery and understanding in the world. Located in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, its core science has been built around the original work by Francis Crick and James Watson on the double helix structure sequencing. Plans have recently been submitted for an additional 27,000 square metres of development for new laboratories, a biological computing centre, research support, conference facilities, an Innovation Centre for start-up businesses – all providing the opportunity for innovators to connect with world leading scientists to advance health and wealth.

Look east for growth and opportunity

Harlow Enterprise Zone is an emerging centre of excellence and will include ARU’s £5m Medtech and advanced engineering Innovation Centre (MedBIC). Public Health England will also be relocating its facilities to the former GSK site in Harlow, there is an opportunity for the facility to support the growing medtech and life sciences cluster in Harlow and the wider west and south Essex area.

Where new scientific frontiers are explored

GlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with Verily, the life sciences arm of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to form a UK-based venture called Galvani Bioelectronics, dedicated to the nascent field of bioelectronic medicine. Headquartered within Glaxo’s global research and development centre in

Stevenage, the company will initially employ 30 scientists, engineers and clinicians.

Galvani is pioneering microelectronic devices suitable for identifying and monitoring metabolic, inflammatory and endocrine disorders, including type 2 diabetes.

Look east for ground-breaking research

Renowned for its world leading university in Cambridge, the eastern region also hosts research institutions that lead the field nationally and internationally.

The government’s objectives, as set out in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy for the Health Advanced Research Programme (HARP), will provide the ideal framework to build collaborations between the NHS and UK-based industries to work together to create new and more efficient ways of delivering world-leading and sustainable healthcare. These are exciting opportunities that will require coordinated work between patients, the healthcare system, funding agencies and industry.

The east of England has considerable experience and a depth of expertise that can be leveraged to achieve this ambition.

The UK Medical Research Council has a national laboratory, nine national centres, and eight research units in the eastern region; the majority are located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in close proximity to the University of Cambridge. Five of the eight national Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council centres are located in the region. These include the Babraham Institute, the Earlham Institute, John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, and Rothamsted Research.

Huntingdon Life Sciences Quotient Bioresearch

Norwich Research Park

Suffolk Business Park

Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park

John Innes CentreQuadram Insitute

PfizerGSK

MedImmune

Genzyme

Sigma Aldrich

Chesterford Research Park

Granta ParkIllumina

SanofiIntasStevenage Bioscience Catalyst

Harlow Enterprise Zone

Bio Park

Harlow UTC

Biofocus

Rossdales Equine Hospital

Hethel Engineering

Unisurge International Ltd

Newmarket Equine Hospital

Getinge Group Healthcare

ARU MedTech Campus

Martindale Pharma

Cambridge Biomedical CampusUniversity of Cambridge

Amgem

AstraZeneca

Abcam

The Gurdon Institute

The Babraham Institute

Multiple Sclerosis Trust

One Nucleus

Territorial Services Medical Services

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Asterand Europe

Melbourne Scientific BIOSEEK EMBL Outstation

Diomed Developments Ltd

Bio Products Laboratory Ltd

Merck, Sharpe & Dohme Ltd

National Stem Cell Bank

Health and Human Sciences Research Institute

Sigma Aldrich

Serco APS

Papworth Hospital

Alconbury Enterprise Campus (EZ)

St Johns Innovation Cambridge Science Park

Cambridge Academy of Science and Technology (CAST)

Cambridge Biomedical

Look east for a comprehensive offer

A brief list of key companies in life sciences sectors shows the Eastern Region’s comprehensive offer to industry, research institutions, healthcare organisations and government bodies.

Key subsectors include pharmaceuticals; biotechnology; and medical technologies.

Pharmaceuticals firms include Altacor, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Roche, Genzyme, MedImmune, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Nestor, Takeda, Napp, and Eisai.

In biotechnology the region hosts Amgen, Abcam, Avergen, Argenta, Bicycle Therapeutics, BlueGnome, Cambridge Bioscience, Cantab Biopharmaceuticals, Illumina, Xenetic Biosciences, and Vantix. Medical technology is vibrant, exemplified by firms such as Bespak, Cambridge Cognition, Unisurge International, Cambridge Epigenetix, Clement Clark International, Evonetix, Keymed, Parburch Medical, Stratech Scientific, Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Draeger Medical UK, Medtronic, GE Healthcare, and Nokia.

LIFE SCIENCES

CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE

SITES AND SPECIALIST ACCOMMODATION

UNIVERSITIES

Health organisations

22 NHS Trusts

13 Clinical Commissioning Groups

6 Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships

530 GP practices

UEA

University of Suffolk

University of Hertfordshire

Anglia Ruskin University

University of Essex

The eastern region is where technological innovation and healthcare meet, generating market-leading new businesses that change outcomes for communities and citizens.

The Babraham Research Campus in Cambridgeshire is the UK’s leading provider of support to early-stage bioscience enterprise. Recent successes include Bicycle Therapeutics, whose collaboration with Cancer Research UK has secured a prestigious Scrip Award, winning 2017’s Best Partnership Alliance. In 2017 Babraham Research Campus, in partnership with BioMed Realty, announced plans to build a new 16,740 square metre scale-up research space for growing bioscience companies.

Babraham’s latest venture is Accelerate@Babraham, a bio-incubator offering fully equipped laboratory and office space with easy access terms to new life sciences ventures. The scheme offers technical, finance and business mentoring to maximise the success chances of new companies.

In recognition of the major assets and capabilities of the eastern region, and its track record in life sciences, Public Health England has chosen Harlow as the location for its new public health campus.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) is the UK’s first open innovation bioscience campus, which is co-located with GSK in Stevenage, and opened in spring 2012. With its unique focus on open innovation, the SBC fosters partnership, idea sharing and value generation between academia, big pharma and biotech. SBC has galvanised enterprises in fields such as therapeutics, diagnostics, manufacturing, data analytics, and consultancy. Leading research and development facilities and support organisations include The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, LifeArc (formerly MRC Technology), GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Cambridge University and University College London.

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) is unique to the UK, combining world-class biomedical research, patient care and education on a single site.

• At the heart of the CBC is the collaboration between the University of Cambridge and three co-located NHS Foundation Trusts: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, provider of integrated physical and mental health services; and from later in 2018, Royal Papworth, one of the largest specialist cardiothoracic hospitals in Europe.

• Key industry partners include AstraZeneca, opening their global HQ in 2018, GSK, who maintain an embedded Clinical Unit Cambridge within CUH, and in 2019, Abcam, who continue to deliver

double-digit revenue growth;

• The Cambridge cluster has been the home to 19 Nobel Prize winners since 2000 – 11 of them within the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology;

• The NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre is a joint partnership between the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals which combines one of the UK’s largest investments in early-stage health research with direct clinical care;

• The Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute tackles questions relating to cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention, supported by world-class core scientific facilities.

Healthera brings together the latest in computer technology and couples it with medical research. Founded by University of Cambridge scientists in partnership with the university’s Institute for Public Health, Healthera has developed a smartphone app that enables patients to monitor their medication use, record any concerns or effects, manage repeat prescriptions and share information with their pharmacies in order to maximise the benefits of prescribed medicines. Medicine scheduling is integrated with users’ smartphone calendars to reduce the likelihood of missed or irregular doses.

Case study

Healthera

Case study

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Where innovation and healthcare meet

Among the many examples of innovation generated in the region’s research institutions is the creation of Beneforté or ‘super broccoli’ at the Quadram Institute, Norwich Research Park. Beneforté has three times the level of glucoraphanin of ordinary broccoli. Glucoraphanin reduces cholesterol and is being tested to assess its effects on prostate and other cancers.

The Eastern Academic Health Science Network (Eastern AHSN) is one of 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) established in 2013 to spread innovation at pace and scale across the healthcare system. The Eastern AHSN is built on strong foundations, with the NHS in the region successfully running the UK’s Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI Healthcare) since 2008, supporting more than 150 firms in developing innovative technologies that match the needs of the NHS.

The Medtech Accelerator, managed by the eastern region’s innovation hub, Health Enterprise East, provides a £2m capital fund to support regional health and care inventors, speeding up the early stage of development for innovative devices, diagnostics, and technology that could help to solve unmet clinical needs within the NHS.

The eastern clinical entrepreneurs forum supports innovators working inside the NHS. This is built on a recognition of exemplary work already led by clinicians, particularly The Non-Injectable Connector - which ensures drugs are correctly administered into the bloodstream - and the PneuX Prevention System, which helps to prevent pneumonia associated with the use of medical ventilators. Both were developed by clinicians from The Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in King’s Lynn as a way of tackling safety problems. The region also sponsors the NHS national clinical entrepreneurs programmes.

SBRI Healthcare helps to create innovative technology solutions in response to NHS needs. The Eastern AHSN has overseen the distribution of more than £75 million of NHS England funds to companies developing healthcare innovation in the UK. A particularly notable success story is from the eastern region.

The Eastern Academic Health Science Network and its delivery partners provide a suite of support services to help businesses develop and provide innovative solutions to the NHS, including SBRI Healthcare, the Innovation Exchange, the Medtech Accelerator, NHS Readiness and the clinical entrepreneurs forum.

NHS Readiness supports businesses with workshops and one-to-one advisory sessions on the practicalities of securing contracts with the NHS, and provides advice and information on clinical trials, commissioning and procurement.

The Innovation Exchange is coordinated by the Eastern AHSN using established networks and expertise to enable innovative diagnostic tools, treatments and medical technologies to reach patients faster.

Where technology and enterprise accelerate clinical care

The eastern region is ideally placed to host a new global accelerator for life sciences in the UK. The government should support this internationally significant institution, as the accelerator would take an overarching and strategic approach to the development of life sciences industries. Its four key strands will support and implement the national industrial strategy:

4. ENHANCE WELLBEING

The global accelerator will ensure that enhancements in technology and workforce development improve healthcare and wellbeing.

• A clinical prototyping zone for the eastern region, allowing fast-tracked trials and clinical approval for new technologies and innovations in medical devices

• Digital and data integration and capture. Building on existing leadership in cancer registry, the accelerator would develop a health and care data hub for the region.

2. GROW THE PLACE

Enhance and cultivate existing life sciences assets and capabilities. The accelerator would prioritise support for existing offers including:

• Advice and development partnership for life sciences institutions and firms wanting to expand

• Support to fast-track development of the built environment, with the highest standards of sustainable construction and community benefits underpinning its position as a location for investment.

3. GROW THE PEOPLE:

The accelerator will provide the skills that life sciences industries need now.

• Skills foresight for life sciences, predicting areas of growth and demand and working with local stakeholders to grow local talent in response

• Intelligence, teaching and careers guidance resources for schools, Higher Education and Further Education institutions

• A structured, nationally branded and well organised work placement scheme with the life science sector

• Community initiatives to ensure local residents can access job and career development opportunities in life sciences.

A new global accelerator for UK life sciences

1. DISRUPT AND CREATE

Create and capture the benefits from disruptive technologies and their application. The accelerator would support cutting edge initiatives including:

• Technology foresight projects and events

• Advice and funds for prototyping and proof of concept

• Business growth and management advice, coaching and support.

We envisage a new national institution, with its HQ in the eastern region and further centres in the north and midlands regions, spreading the benefits of the region’s leadership nationwide.