Major new investment in UK life sciences
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has recently announced that multinational biotech business BioNTech will invest up to £1 billion over 10 years in its UK activities, supported by £129 million in grant funding from government over that period. BioNTech became known worldwide for developing the first approved mRNA-based vaccine with Pfizer which was rolled-out extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic. BioNTech has since been engaged in an important UK strategic partnership to provide up to 10,000 patients with access to investigational personalised cancer immunotherapies.
The project will focus on three areas:
- accelerating clinical trials for product candidates of BioNTech’s oncology pipeline
- investments into expanding BioNTech’s R&D footprint in the UK
- research into structural biology, regenerative medicine, and infectious disease vaccines.
BioNTech plans to establish two new research and development (R&D) hubs, one in Cambridge and an ‘AI hub’ at its forthcoming UK headquarters in London led by its AI-powered medical research subsidiary InstaDeep. These R&D hubs are expected ‘to create over 400 new highly skilled jobs over the [10-year period], including researchers in clinical and scientific drug development, bioinformatics, and a range of supporting functions’.
This substantial investment in UK life sciences, with government support forming part of its Plan for Change, underlines the position of life sciences as a key focus sector for UK economic growth. It is a welcome vote of confidence in UK life sciences in a challenging funding environment.
Our content explained
Every piece of content we create is correct on the date it’s published but please don’t rely on it as legal advice. If you’d like to speak to us about your own legal requirements, please contact one of our expert lawyers.