Vital medicines and new jobs in over £80 million for UK life sciences
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3 companies are investing over £80 million, bringing total
investment in UK life sciences to £600 million this year and
advancing the Government's Life Sciences Sector Plan
Investments across the UK, from Birmingham to
Barnstaple, will deliver vaccines and medicines for conditions such
as cancer and bipolar disorder New backing will bolster the
country's supply of vital medicines and ensure reliable access to
the newest and best treatments, as well as...Request free trial
People across the UK living with health conditions like bipolar disorder, cancer and neurodegenerative conditions will be given better access to vital medicines, through more than £80 million of investment into the UK's world-leading life sciences sector. These investments, announced by the Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall today (Tuesday 14 April), were made possible by the government's Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) and will support over 500 jobs. It takes the amount invested so far this year in UK life sciences to £600 million. This backing will strengthen regional clusters, create new career opportunities across the country and help forge a new era for UK life sciences, which is on track to be boosted by £1 billion through the Fund by the summer. The news follows finalisation earlier this month of a partnership which makes the UK the first country in the world to secure 0% tariffs on pharmaceutical exports to the US. The arrangement makes future life sciences investment into the country more attractive, delivering on a key pillar of the Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the Modern Industrial Strategy. The package includes a more than £45 million investment from Accord - one of the largest suppliers of oncology and chemotherapy medicines in Europe. The investment in the company's Barnstaple site will boost local production of novel treatments, including medicines for people living with bipolar disorder, alongside the site's historic expertise in generic medicines. This will secure the UK's manufacturing and supply of medicines that make up 9% of all NHS prescriptions. Accord's latest investment represents a significant boost for North Devon. The site acts as one of Accord's hubs for manufacturing, testing, and distribution across Europe, and is one of Barnstaple's most important employers. Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: By manufacturing more medicines in this country we can make sure more people get the vital treatments they need. These investments will make a real difference to people across the country and show our Life Sciences Sector Plan is bearing fruit. We are delivering the advanced treatments that patients need, growing our economy, and creating and protecting highly skilled jobs for people across the UK. Dr Zubir Ahmed, Health Innovation and Safety Minister, said: I have seen first-hand the difference latest treatments can make to a patient's life. These investments mean more people living with conditions like bipolar disorder will benefit from cutting-edge medicines - developed and manufactured right here in Britain. This is the Life Sciences Sector Plan and 10 Year Health Plan in action - giving confidence to medical innovators across the globe to deliver, scale and grow in the UK, creating highly skilled, well paid jobs and strengthening our medical supply chains in the process. Accord's investment is among the latest in a series of private investments to be unlocked by the government's Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), which is worth up to £520 million and is delivering against 1 of the 6 headline commitments within the Life Sciences Sector Plan. In a boost to the Midlands' credentials as a life sciences powerhouse, the University of Birmingham's Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) will invest £10 million in a programme to establish a new near-patient biomanufacturing facility. This will include 3 clean rooms and staffing dedicated to producing medicines and vaccines for patients and clinical trials, giving the UK greater flexibility to respond rapidly to future health emergencies. The investment will also accelerate the development of advanced cell and gene therapies and mRNA vaccines, which is already well underway in Birmingham. Alongside University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the University is leading Europe's first trial of a personalised mRNAvaccine for pancreatic cancer – one of the most challenging types of cancer to treat. In this ground-breaking trial, vaccines are tailored to each individual patient's tumour, training their immune systems to recognise and destroy any cancer cells that remain after surgery to prevent recurrence. The new PHTAfacility means the “tumour-to-vaccine” journey will be faster than ever before, speeding up treatment time for patients. Elsewhere, Codis has committed to investing in a new facility in Haverhill, Suffolk, using advanced spray-drying technology to support the development of next-generation therapies. This investment will help address conditions such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, while enabling partners to bring more medicines to market. The Haverhill site is the centre of excellence for Codis' production of spray dried Sevelamer, used for the management of hyperphosphatemia - particularly important for patients with chronic kidney disease, one of the UK's most significant long term health conditions affecting 2% of adults aged 35 and over. With nearly 3 decades of spray-drying expertise, the team supports customers across international markets. The investment will create 29 new jobs and safeguard a further 160 roles, with the site benefiting from its proximity to Cambridge's world leading science community. It will also support Codis' continued position as a world leader, with Haverhill installing the UK's only commercial-scale, solvent-capable GEA PSD 4 spray dryer. This advanced technology improves the bioavailability of difficult-to-manufacture medicines, helping to increase accessibility for patients worldwide. The new investments come alongside an independent evaluation by Ipsos confirming the strong impact of government investment in UK life sciences manufacturing. Evaluation of the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund and the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund. The projects supported by the LSIMF and its predecessor fund (the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund) between 2021 and 2023 helped unlock £12 of private investment for every £1 of grant funding. The report shows that government support is playing a key role in keeping major manufacturing investments in the UK, supporting jobs and growth, and helping the country prepare for future health emergencies. Paul Tredwell, Chief Executive Officer, Accord said: The LSIMF grant has helped to unlock new investment in our Barnstaple site which remains a strategic asset to the UK, providing 9% of all NHS medicines. The investment will enable the manufacture of 2 new innovative medicines, helping to secure the sustainability of the site and its broader contribution to UK health resilience. Professor Gino Martini, Chief Executive Officer, PHTA, said: The UK, and particularly the West Midlands, urgently needs GMP cleanroom facilities to support the production of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products and vaccines, including cell therapies and mRNAvaccines, as well as medicines for clinical trials. This new investment will allow us to achieve our point-of-care manufacturing ambitions, ensuring patients get access to the latest, most innovative medicines. Having these facilities in place will also build resilience into the NHS, ensuring future pandemic preparedness. Professor Neil Hanley, Birmingham Health Partners Executive Director and Lead for Birmingham Health Innovation Campus said: This is tremendous news that underpins the industry-facing strength of health and life sciences in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Through this award, we bring to life the government priority of near-patient biomanufacturing of cell, gene and vaccine therapies, all aligned to our tremendous capability in decentralised clinical trials. Delivering the government's Life Sciences Sector Plan and the NHS 10-Year Plan is vital. It is our obligation that Birmingham remains and grows as a destination for this work. Nicolas Fortin, Chief Executive Officer, Codis said: This milestone marks the next phase in Codis' evolution as a global leader in spray drying and ASD. The PSD4 significantly expands our ASD capacity and gives customers dedicated commercial‑scale throughput to bring more life‑changing medicines to market. We are grateful for the support of the UK government through the LSIMF, which enables us to accelerate this project and continue investing at our Haverhill site. To further strengthen life sciences investment in the UK, the government is also announcing a new Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio. Building on existing funds like LSIMF, the scheme will work with large companies prepared to invest over £250 million in life sciences projects. Offering Trusted Trader status, this will allow for streamlined applications for financial support, tailored regional and national backing, and sustained engagement with UK Ministers. The regional support package - initially piloted in Liverpool and Manchester – has already brought together deep local knowledge and the unique strengths of each city, to show how greater collaboration can attract new transformational investments to the North West and beyond. Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: The Liverpool City Region is already one of the UK's leading clusters for innovative health and life sciences. Being home to the world's first dedicated school of tropical medicine, and now a Life Sciences Innovation Zone - which is set to unlock up to £800 million in public and private investment and create 8,000 high-quality jobs - meaning that we are building on more than a century of expertise. Being chosen to pilot the new Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio is a powerful endorsement of our strengths and capability to deliver transformational projects at scale. It gives us the platform to go further and faster - attracting major global investment, accelerating cutting-edge research, and ensuring that scientific breakthroughs translate into well-paid, high skilled jobs and real improvements in people's lives. Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: Greater Manchester has become the UK's fastest growing economy and we've attracted more foreign direct investment than anywhere outside London. Life sciences has been one of the key sectors behind that growth, and in the past year alone we've seen companies like IQVIA, Convatec and Vortex Biotech establishing themselves here. We can offer access to world-class research, innovation assets and a skilled workforce, all centred around our Oxford Road Corridor, and supported by a uniquely joined-up approach between our universities, businesses, public sector and the NHS. This pilot presents a major opportunity to build on this success, by more effectively communicating our offer to potential investors and working more closely with the Office for Life Sciences to attract leading life sciences businesses. These announcements follow a flurry of good news for Life Sciences investments in recent weeks. This includes news that Norgine will inject more than £20 million to expand its site in Hengoed, Wales This will boost production for MOVICOL®, a laxative designated as an essential medicine during the pandemic. The investment will create 44 jobs and protect 112 more at one of the company's main facilities for producing gastrointestinal medicine. Norgine's investment builds on the momentum of the growing life sciences sector in Wales, which generates more than £3.5 billion in turnover every year and employs over 13,000 people across more than 280 companies. Saulo Martiniano, Chief Operating Officer, Norgine said: We are grateful to the UK government's Office for Life Sciences for supporting this investment through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund. By expanding and enhancing our Hengoed facilities, we are increasing capacity, strengthening quality capabilities and investing in more energy efficient production, helping to bolster the resilience of important medicines supplied across the UK and Europe. With these enhanced capabilities in Wales, alongside our site in Dreux, France, and our network of manufacturing partners across Europe, Norgine is well placed to navigate uncertainty and deliver medicines efficiently and consistently for years to come. Other investments announced in recent weeks include:
The scheme also supported over £30 million of investment in 2025. Notes to editors The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) is a cornerstone of the government's commitment to strengthening the UK's health sector and 1 of the 6 headline commitments within the Life Sciences Sector Plan, a key pillar of the government's Industrial Strategy. The investments announced today are subject to final agreement on terms and conditions. Accord Healthcare is one of the largest providers of off-patent medicines with one of the largest manufacturing footprints in the UK. This investment is the company's latest collaboration with government, adding to their previous £50 million investment which was supported through the government's previous Biomanufacturing Fund. The Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio (LSLIP) is a new flagship scheme and a commitment within the Life Sciences Sector Plan. It is designed to leverage >£250 million investment portfolios into the UK. |