Guest blog: Opportunities for UK Advanced Therapies sector through Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund - competitions open as part of ISCF £146m investments

By Dr Sarah Goulding, Specialist in advanced therapies and medicines at The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN)

September 29th saw the opening of the latest competition under the Leading-Edge Healthcare Challenge of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). The fund was set up by government with the aim of speeding up patient access to new treatments, to promote the UK’s position as a leader in medicines manufacturing, and to increase productivity and stimulate further investment into the sector.  KTN ran the Innovate UK briefing event in York for the £30m competition for Advanced Therapies Treatment Centres. The scope for this is to establish a network of three centres to:

• increase patient access to advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) on a national level
• establish best practice for the safe and effective delivery of ATMPs to patients
• establish best practice for the manufacturing and final preparation of ATMPs using Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) within a clinical setting
• establish robust connected supply chains for the manufacture and delivery of ATMPs
• create systems to allow traceability and tracking of ATMPs. These must be compatible with current regulations and be suitable for applying across the NHS
• establish best practice for patient follow up and data capture

If you are a company in the advanced therapies therapeutics and supply chain looking to connect into one of the consortia being formed please contact KTN (Knowledge Transfer Network) or CGTC (Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult) to discuss how we can facilitate. The deadline to submit a bid is November 1st 2017. This competition is in addition to the current Innovate UK competitions open where the scope includes Advanced Therapies:

Medicines Manufacturing round 1 challenge fund £15m

This competition aims to stimulate the development and implementation of innovative methods/technologies to improve the manufacture of novel medicines for human use. Proposals must offer innovative approaches to medicines manufacturing challenges. These can include, but are not limited to, approaches that deliver:

• improved commercially viable manufacturing processes
• methods for the reliable and robust scale-up of production of novel medicines
• increased yield of active ingredient
• lower cost of production and goods

Innovation in Health and Life Sciences Round 3 - £15m competition

This competition’s broad scope includes Advanced Therapies:

• increasing the UK’s commercial capacity to manufacture viral vectors for use in the development of cell and gene therapies to treat human disease and disorders
• processing or manufacturing technologies for advanced therapies products including those suitable for near-patient application
• technology or processes that lower production costs
• tools and techniques for quality control to enable real-time product release

More widely for life sciences, competitions for a vaccines manufacturing and development centre (£66m) and a medicines manufacturing innovation centre (£13m) also align with the ISCF Leading Healthcare Challenge investments.

For more information on the work of the Knowledge Transfer Network, please visit their website.