Life Science Super Cluster Announced
On 27 January the Government announced plans for a new UK Life Sciences Super Cluster, supported by £1 million of Government investment. Bringing together industry, academia and the NHS, it will help deliver the next generation of medicines and technologies needed to support people suffering from chronic diseases.At its heart will be the creation of Therapeutic Capability Clusters. These will be made up of a small number of selected academic and NHS centres of excellence, which will work with industry to harness UK capabilities in specific therapeutic areas and work on early stage clinical development and experimental medicine.
Read Life Sciences 2010: Delivering the Blueprint (PDF)
Go to the Office for Life Sciences website
The new Life Sciences Super Cluster will be kick-started later this year with a pilot in immunology and inflammation focussing on disease areas such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. The announcement caps off a year of action for UK Life Sciences. In July 2009, the OLS published the Life Sciences Blueprint (PDF) setting out an ambitious and comprehensive set of measures to transform the UK operating environment. In the six months since publication, much has been achieved:
- A Patent
Box, applying a 10% rate of corporation
tax to patent-related income from April 2013. This will strengthen
incentives for companies to invest in innovative activity and
locate in the UK. Government will consult with business on the
detailed design of the Box in time for Finance Bill 2011;
- A £21.5 million
RegenMed
programme managed by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB),
which will support our growing and strategically-important
regenerative medicine industry. The TSB launched two competitions,
involving over 40 companies, in 2009 and will hold further
competitions in 2010;
- An Innovation Pass, which will give patients earlier access to promising licensed medicines. A consultation on this three-year initiative began in November 2009. A one-year pilot will start in April 2010 with funding of £25 million;
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Lord Mandelson said:
"Our Life Sciences industry is exactly the type of high-tech, high-value industry, where Britain has real strengths and the potential for growth in the future.
"The Government has demonstrated that we are prepared to take real action to support Life Sciences and this is already having an impact on investment decisions, but this is just the beginning. we will maintain this momentum and continue to build a thriving environment for UK Life Science"Read the full press release: Life Sciences Super Cluster announced as support for Life Sciences is bolstered
