UK to put £200M into tech transfer centres and set up clusters for drug development

The UK government has given the go-ahead to £200 million programme to develop technology and innovation centres modelled on Germany’s Fraunhofer Centres, and announced the formation of two clusters to bring together basic and clinical researchers with industry to develop new drugs.

The Technology and Innovation Centres will act as a conduit between universities and businesses, helping to commercialise the outputs of the UK’s basic research base. Announcing the funding, Prime Minister David Cameron said the centres will “spread knowledge” and make industry aware of funding that is available to help with commercialisation. The aim is “to build a new dynamism” and to “back the big businesses of tomorrow”, Cameron said. “These centres will be great for research and great for business.”

Cameron also pledged that more of the government’s procurement budget would be spent with small and medium size enterprises to help them “bridge the gap between innovation and commercial success”.

The centres, which will receive the money over the next four years, will be based on the model proposed by the entrepreneur Hermann Hauser, allowing companies to access equipment and expertise that would otherwise be out of reach, as well as conducting their own in-house R&D. They will also help businesses access new funding streams administered by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

Each centre will focus on a specific technology, with areas identified as possibilities by Hauser including plastic electronics, regenerative medicine and high value manufacturing.

The centres will be established and overseen by the TSB, but individual centres will have a high degree of autonomy. The TSB will work with industry, universities and other interested parties to identify the areas the centres will support.

In another move, to improve technology transfer and commercialisation in the biotech and pharmaceutical sector, the government plans to set up the Therapeutic Capability Clusters programme, following the completion of two pilot studies.

On Monday, UK Science Minister David Willetts launched the first two projects in inflammatory respiratory diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in joint and related inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis.

The UK government says these are the first clusters in the world to be established around specific therapy areas. The aim is to speed the progression of basic research into the clinic and through to market, by providing a single point of contact for industry engagement and patient access.

Nigel Gaymond, Chief Executive of the UK BioIndustry Association, said the Capability Clusters will make it easier for small companies, “to identify the leaders in specific disease areas,” and to access expertise in the National Health Service and academia.

Willetts also announced plans for the Medical Research Council (MRC) to invest more than £10 million in consortia researching the two disease areas, complementing the Therapeutic Capability Clusters programme.

This represents the first phase of a new approach in funding by the MRC, in which the Council will bring academics and industry together at the early R&D stages to develop a stratified approach to disease, with the aim of singling out likely responders and thus making clinical trials more likely to show efficacy, and also identifying novel biomarkers, mechanisms and disease targets.

John Savill, Chief Executive of the MRC said this represents an “exciting new way of working between the MRC and industry,” to accelerate research. It will fit hand in glove with the Therapeutic Capability Clusters programme.

Cameron said the government has made a strategic decision to back areas where the UK has existing strengths. “When we are looking for growth opportunities we won’t just stick a pin in the map [...] We will go with the grain of what is working.”