£47 million Biomedical Catalyst support announced for innovation in healthcare
11 March 2013
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Medical Research Council are to provide £47.2 million to UK businesses and universities, through their jointly managed Biomedical Catalyst programme. The funding, announced today by Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts, addresses the need for new and effective healthcare solutions for a growing and ageing UK population.
The awards are being made to 43 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and seven universities, as part of the £180 million Biomedical Catalyst programme. This is a key part of the Government’s Strategy for UK Life Sciences. The scheme supports the translation of an idea from concept to commercialisation and a number of the projects announced today involve late-stage human trials of new healthcare solutions.
The total value of the projects in this second round, including private matched investment from the businesses, amounts to over £78 million. Among the projects winning funding are: a novel drug for treating multiple sclerosis; the world’s first clinical trial of a stem cell based voice box transplant; an innovative low-cost implantable blood pump for advanced heart failure; gene therapy for a genetic visual disorder; and a new therapeutic approach to controlling the immune system in infectious disease.
Announcing the awards at InnovateUK, the country’s largest innovation event, the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, said:
“The Biomedical Catalyst is making a real impact by making sure that our innovative businesses in the UK are able to develop new products for the healthcare industry. Many great innovations often fall into the ‘valley of death’ between the creation of an idea and the market place. The Catalyst is helping the UK to bridge that gap, so that the best new ideas in healthcare can be transformed into innovative products and services.”
Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said:
“The Biomedical Catalyst scheme is demonstrating the enormous scope for innovation in healthcare. New and innovative approaches to the challenges facing the health services in this country will help ensure that it meets the needs of UK citizens in the decades to come.”
Professor Sir John Savill, Chief Executive of the MRC, said:
“Today’s awards bring the total invested through the Biomedical Catalyst so far to almost £100m. This substantial supportwill bring academic researchers together with UK SMEs to work towards a common goal – improving the health of the nation and changing lives through medical research.”
The programme is already delivering results. With support from the Biomedical Catalyst, companies who were successful in securing awards in Round 1 have been able to attract further significant funding from the private sector. London based BioMoti, who secured a Feasibility Award in Round 1 for their work on ovarian cancer treatments, recently announced an initial private finance round of £150,000 under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Glide Pharma secured an additional £14m in a round led by Invesco Perpetual following their Early Stage Award for work on a treatment for osteoporosis.
In its first two rounds, the Biomedical Catalyst programme has awarded a total of £96m to 115 projects. Demand for support is strong and rising. Round 3, which closed for entries at the end of February, received the highest number of applications so far.
Some of the projects funded today include:
Business-led projects
- Indigix Ltd (an Imperial College London spin out) will be using their Feasibility Award of £150,000 (project value of £200,000) to develop a new dimmer-switch like drug for the immune system which has the potential to treat life threatening infectious diarrhoeal diseases. The drug reduces the cytokine response just like a dimmer switch reduces the brightness of a bulb enabling the reduction of cytokines to levels that are helpful rather than harmful to the human body.
- Advanced heart failure is a large and growing healthcare challenge. Calon Cardio-Technology Ltd will be collaborating with Swansea University on the development of an innovative low-cost implantable blood pump to treat this condition using an Early Stage Award of £1.7m (project value of £2.6m).
- A £1.3m (project value of £1.9m) Late Stage Award will enable the first clinical studies of a novel drug for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis to be conducted by Canbex Therapeutics Ltd working in partnership with University College London and Queen Mary University London. The drug was originally discovered from research conducted at UCL and this project builds on work conducted with a Wellcome Trust Translational Award leveraging additional investment by UCL Business.
Academic-led projects
- Professor Martin Birchall and colleagues at the UCL Ear Institute have been awarded £2.8m through the Biomedical Catalyst to allow them to carry out the world’s first clinical trial of a stem cell based voice box transplant. The ultimate goal is to produce a safe and effective therapy suitable for routine NHS use, resulting in improved quality of life for patients and carers.
- Researchers at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology have been awarded £2.1m to conduct the first ever clinical trial of a gene therapy for cone cells, to treat a severe visual disorder called achromatopsia. If successful, the trial could not only lead to an effective new treatment for this condition, but also pave the way for gene therapy as a treatment for a wide range of sight problems.
For more information on business-led projects, contact Simon Napper in the TSB press office. Tel: 07881 842583. Email: simon.napper@tsb.gov.uk
For more information on the academic-led projects, contact Hannah Isom in the MRC press office. Tel: 0207 395 2345 (out of hours: 07818 428 297). Email: press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
