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More Cash to Boost UK's World-Leading Cell and Gene Therapy Cluster

on Monday, 09 December 2019.

The Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership has announced that it is going to invest £1.2m into Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) to help to grow the global leading cell and gene therapy cluster at SBC.

SBC is a world-leading science park of global significance, and is home to the largest cluster of cell and gene therapy companies in Europe. Since it opened in 2012, SBC has attracted more than 40 businesses and research organisations.

On the site is the world-famous Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre, which already supports five companies to develop their advanced therapy manufacturing at scale and is already expanding further to support 12 cell and gene therapy companies.

Now, the £1.2m Local Growth Fund investment will provide a home for growing cell and gene therapy companies.

Occupiers of the SBC campus have already raised approximately £1bn of investment, of which around 60% has been invested into cell and gene therapy companies. Now, several of these companies are wanting to expand their premises at SBC.

To help to meet this demand, the Hertfordshire LEP has once again backed the life sciences industry by funding the development of the new 'Spark Building'. This building will provide interim lab and office accommodation whilst more permanent accommodation is developed nearby. The Spark Building will be co-located with the SBC Incubator, Accelerator, and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre.

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth, Chief Executive Officer at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, commented: "We are delighted to receive the investment and continued support from Hertfordshire LEP. This ensures that we support the growth of our occupiers and continue to build on our position as Europe’s hub for cell and gene therapy."

Paul Witcombe, Head of Enterprise and Innovation at the Hertfordshire LEP, commented: "Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has made a huge contribution to the rapid clustering of world-class corporate and academic research excellence on the GSK campus at Stevenage. To date, we have already approved up to £12m from the Local Growth Fund to develop essential infrastructure to support scientific research and we anticipate further opportunities to support the cluster."

Comment

The future of the UK life sciences industry is personalised care and genomics, and on that front, the good news keeps on coming. It is exciting to see further funding being provided so that it can continue to take the lead in these exciting areas.

SBC and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult are two very closely linked great success stories. At VWV, our life sciences team has been supporting SBC tenants for six years. And in 2020, the annual PING (Pharmaceutical Industry Network Group) Conference will focus on the UK's global leading life sciences areas: genomics, personalised medicine and artificial intelligence. We have a stellar line-up of speakers coming to speak at the PING Conference, who are at the forefront of the UK's success in these areas.

In addition to providing this extra grant to back the cell and gene therapy manufacturing specialism within Hertfordshire, we are delighted that the LEP has agreed to support PING for a seventh successive year, which will be taking place on 3 June 2020.


If you have a particular interest in any of these areas and would be interested in being invited to attend the Conference, please let me know. Please contact Paul Gershlick in our Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences team on 01923 919 320.