Facility to cement Park’s position in UK life sciences ecosystem
Facility to cement Park’s position in UK life sciences ecosystem
Oxford, UK, 3 December 2018 - The UK’s first dedicated Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) will be located at The Oxford Science Park (TOSP), one of the UK’s leading parks for science and technology companies, it was announced today. Located on a new plot close to the Magdalen Centre, home to many SMEs, the £66m VMIC addresses the UK’s gap in late-stage vaccine manufacturing process development. It will be a purpose-built facility, allowing development and manufacture of vaccines for clinical trials and at moderate scale for emergency preparedness for epidemic threats. Location of VMIC at TOSP cements its position as a major contributor to Government’s Industrial Strategy, and recognises the scientific excellence at TOSP and its long-term commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship in Oxford.
With several of TOSP’s 50 life sciences occupiers working in infectious diseases and oncology, VMIC’s highly complementary activities across the manufacture of personalised cancer vaccines and vectors for gene therapy should accelerate opportunities for academic and industrial collaboration at TOSP. VMIC is expected to be up and running by the Spring of 2022.
The University of Oxford, Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have established VMIC-UK to run the centre, supported by Janssen (part of Johnson and Johnson) and Merck, industrial partners with extensive experience in vaccine manufacturing and development. Expertise and training in state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment will be provided by GE Healthcare.
Piers Scrimshaw-Wright, Managing Director of The Oxford Science Park, said, ‘The Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre will be a major part of the UK life sciences research and manufacturing infrastructure, and we are delighted that it will be located here. Building on Oxford’s reputation as a centre of excellence in vaccines research, this multi-party initiative provides a significant boost to the collaborative ethos here. As well as providing local jobs, it complements TOSP’s long-term commitment to science, innovation and entrepreneurship in Oxford, and we look forward to working with the VMIC team on its development.’
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For more information, please contact:
The Oxford Science Park
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic Communications Consultant
T: +44 (0)7880 787185, emmapf@oxfordsp.com
Notes to editors
About The Oxford Science Park
The Oxford Science Park is owned and managed by Magdalen College, Oxford. Created in 1991, the Park upholds the College’s heritage and provides one of the most influential science & technology environments in the UK. There is more than half a million square feet of workspace accommodation across the Park, which is now home to nearly 2,500 people and more than 90 businesses. These range from start-ups based in the Magdalen Centre innovation hub to major international companies and include Blue Earth Diagnostics, Circassia, OrganOx, OxSonics, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Sharp Life Science, Oxford Genetics, ProImmune, Oxford Sciences Innovation, Evox Therapeutics, Vaccitech and Exscientia.
In addition to being a key property investment, the Park is at the heart of Magdalen College’s strategy to support discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. It will continue to develop The Oxford Science Park as a long-term strategic asset, with ambitious plans to create an additional 300,000+ sq ft of office and laboratory space on the remaining 10+ acres of land over the next 3-5 years. This additional capacity will support the growth of businesses already based on the Park, providing flexible workspace accommodation, and enabling new companies to enjoy the Park’s exceptional environment and collegiate and collaborative ethos. The Oxford Science Park is located approximately four miles south-east of Oxford city centre, just off the City’s southern ring road. It has easy access to the M40 and A34, as well as to Heathrow Airport and mainline train services. For further information, please visit: www.oxfordsp.com or follow us on twitter @OxfordSciencePK
