The Precision Medicine Catapult, a new UK-based innovation centre for precision medicine, is to be centred in Cambridge with links to regional centres of excellence across the UK.
The catapult's headquarters will be on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – also the new home to drugmaker AstraZeneca – and will be headed by John McKinley as Chief Executive.
The catapult aims to help accelerate the introduction of new products and services and sees working nationally as essential for this, given the UK's existing precision medicine strengths in different parts of the country. To that end, it will partner with centres of excellence across the UK, covering the North of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Southern England.
Precision medicine uses diagnostic tests or data-based insights to understand a patient's disease more precisely, and so select treatments with more predictable, safer, cost-effective outcomes.
Planned to be fully operational by the end of 2016/17, the Precision Medicine Catapult network will bring access to an internationally recognised biotech cluster in addition to academic and private sector precision medicine expertise.
The UK will have a world-class network of medicines Catapults – Precision Medicine, Medicines Technologies and our existing Cell Therapy Catapult
The Cambridge headquarters and regional centres are expected to have up to 100 staff, building the UK’s national innovation centre in this area, with the goal of helping the country to become a world leader in this field.
The UK has already invested over £1bn in precision medicine research infrastructure and this announcement builds on the government’s plans to develop a network of catapults to take advantage of opportunities for growth in new global markets.
In a further boost to the UK's research infrastructure, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled £5m of funding to establish a new Medicines Technologies Catapult at Alderley Park in Cheshire.
Catapult centres were launched in 2011, bringing together business with researchers with the aim of helping start-ups bring ideas to market that might otherwise struggle because of a lack of funding, expertise or facilities.
Innovate UK Chief Executive Ruth McKernan said: 'Today’s announcement will mean that the UK will have a world-class network of medicines Catapults – Precision Medicine, Medicines Technologies and our existing Cell Therapy Catapult. Together these three complementary Catapults should keep the UK at the forefront of a sector we have long excelled in and act as a magnet for inward investment.'