- Business Secretary alongside the Danish Minister
Tommy Ahlers today attended the opening of a research centre
developing the next generation of treatment for people with
diabetes
- the new centre in Oxford, owned by global healthcare company
Novo Nordisk, demonstrates a vote of confidence in UK talent and
the quality of our research in the UK
- the Life Sciences Sector Deal as part of the government’s
modern Industrial Strategy is securing investment to maintain the
UK’s place as a world leader in developing innovative research
into future treatments and pioneering medicines
A new centre for research to develop a new generation of
medicines that will transform the lives of people living with
diabetes opened in Oxford today (12 September 2018).
, Secretary of State for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, attended the opening of
the Novo Nordisk Research
Centre, along with Danish Science Minister Tommy Ahlers.
The number of people with diabetes is expected to increase in the
next 2 decades from 3.9 million people in 2017, to 4.9 million in
2035, according to Public Health England statistics. The centre
will collaborate with the University of Oxford using its
scientific excellence to conduct new research, including on:
- new medicines to treat diabetes
- understanding the relationship between insulin resistance and
other health conditions
- analysing complex data to earlier detect type 2 diabetes
Novo Nordisk will invest around £115 million over a period of 10
years and the new centre will mean up to 100 research jobs in the
coming years.
Business Secretary said:
This centre has the potential to transform the way diabetes is
treated in the future and improve the lives of people around
the world. Our universities and research institutes are world
beating and this international investment in the UK is a vote
of confidence in both the talent we have and the quality of
research and products our scientists develop.
This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action as we strive
towards more public and private research and development
investment to upgrade our economy and build a Britain fit for
the future.
Professor Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CSO and EVP at Novo Nordisk,
said:
I am very excited to see the strategic alliance between Novo
Nordisk and the University of Oxford flourish and set the bar
for international collaborative cutting edge scientific
research to spearhead collaboration on new treatment for people
with type 2 diabetes and other serious chronic diseases.
In the modern Industrial
Strategy the government has set the ambitious target to
reach 2.4% of gross domestic product investment in research and
development by 2027. In December 2017, the Life Sciences Sector
Deal was announced to maintain the UK’s place as a world
leader in developing innovative research into future treatments
and pioneering medicines.
