Innovation in European healthcare – what can Sweden learn? - LIF

Cell-based therapy will be of clinical significance and a key priority
in developing the future of UK healthcare
• Cell-based therapies have shown many uses, including regenerating tissues and drug development
mechanisms. They already demonstrated significant medical advances such as skin regeneration in
patients with wounds, and therapeutic vaccines for prostate cancer.
• The global commercial cell therapy industry has been estimated to have an annual turnover of $1bn in
2011; this is estimated to rise to $5bn by 2014.
• The UK is well-positioned to gain a substantial share of this market with an infrastructure that eases access
to NHS patients, a mature capital market and established life sciences industries.
• Through the NIHR and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) the Government will invest up to £10m
per annum in the Cell Therapy Catapult (formerly known as the Cell therapy Technology Innovation
Centre).
– This will be supported by a joint investment of £25m over the next five years by the MRC, Engineering Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
• The Cell Therapy Catapult Centre will aim to assist SMEs in the scaling-up, repeatability, quality control and
assurance, developing manufacturing processes and establishing supply chains.
• It is common to the French consortium of biotechnology companies and academic centres, CellforCure
(C4C), with funding of €30 million from the French government innovation agency OSEO, for the purpose of
developing the first French technical support centre for manufacturing of cell therapy products
• The Cell Therapy Catapult Centre is located in London within the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at St.
Guy’s and St. Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. It expects to move into the
heart of a cluster of hospitals, clinical research centres and universities, at the end of 2013.
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