£30 million world-class Advanced Therapies Centre to be established by King's College London
World-leading centre will be hosted at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College London has today been awarded £10,164,789 by the HEFCE-managed UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) to establish a world-class Advanced Therapies Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The Centre, which is also supported by £20 million in funding from private sector and non-profit organisations, will develop cutting-edge experimental treatments with the aim of revolutionising the way patients all over the world are treated for diseases like cancer and diabetes.
Bringing together world-leading academics and clinicians, drug manufacturing capability and experimental medicine research facilities, the Advanced Therapies Centre will be developed by King’s in partnership with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London, and is expected to open in 2018.
Professor Sir Robert Lechler, Senior Vice President and Provost (Health) of King’s and Executive Director of King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre, said: 'Advanced therapies offer enormous promise for patients suffering from severe and incurable conditions. This new Centre will provide our world-leading scientists with the facilities they need to make breakthroughs in the global fight against a wide range of diseases.'
The Advanced Therapies Centre will occupy two floors of Guy’s Hospital Tower, increasing the size of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Experimental Medicine Hub from 10 to 12 floors of the Tower.
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said: 'The new Advanced Therapies Centre, along with the facilities and expertise of our NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, will enable our clinical teams and their academic colleagues to lead the search for new and better personalised treatments for patients with conditions such as cancer and diabetes.'
In addition to the UKRPIF award, the Centre also received £20million of support from GSK, Cellectis, the Innovate UK Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, and the Charité Research Organisation.
Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: 'The UK's world-renowned leadership in science, research and innovation is helping to solve a range of national and global challenges, and the breadth of the projects funded today means this will continue.
'Through our Industrial Strategy and £4.7 billion investment for research and development, we're ensuring we capitalise on the great work taking place in universities across the UK and remain at the forefront of innovation.'
Managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), in collaboration with the UK higher education funding bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, UKRPIF supports higher education research in areas of research excellence to attract investment, and to strengthen the contribution of research to the economy. Proposals are assessed by an independent panel.
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Contact: Ben Sawtell, Communications Manager, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London
ben.sawtell@gstt.nhs.uk | 020 7188 7604 | 07717 817 714
Note to editors:
- Photography of Guy’s Tower and current research facilities available on request
Context
- The gene & cell therapy market is estimated to grow to $21bn/year worldwide by 2025 (Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce Report 2016)
- there has been $716m of gene therapy venture capital funding invested since 2010
- the UK Government has undertaken several activities to establish the potential of this area and the steps needed for the UK to be at the forefront of this rapidly-growing market. These have strongly recommended investment in this area through Centres of Excellence, and have highlighted the health and economic benefits to the UK.
About King’s College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2016/17 QS World University Rankings) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 29,600 students (of whom nearly 11,700 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,000 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*).
Since our foundation, King’s students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King’s will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King’s strategic vision for the next 12 years to 2029, which will be the 200th anniversary of the founding of the university. For further information about King's, please visit the King's in Brief web pages.
About Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
1. Guy's and St Thomas' provides more than 2.3 million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services and community services every year. As one of the biggest NHS trusts in the UK, with an annual turnover of more than £1.3 billion, we employ around 15,000 staff. www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk
2. Guy’s and St Thomas’ is part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a collaboration between King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts. www.kingshealthpartners.org
About the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London works to develop and deliver new medicines and diagnostics to patients, drive research and innovation into the NHS, and provide national systems leadership for maximum impact to patients.
With our research activity organised into nine themes, each holding an individual Athena Swan Silver award highlighting our commitment to equality and diversity, and supported by our interdisciplinary, world leading infrastructure, we are poised to deliver the next step change for the health and wealth of our nation.
About the NIHR
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR): improving the health and wealth of the nation through research.
Established by the Department of Health, the NIHR:
- funds high quality research to improve health
- trains and supports health researchers
- provides world-class research facilities
- works with the life sciences industry and charities to benefit all
- involves patients and the public at every step
About the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF)
UKRPIF supports higher education research in areas of research excellence to attract investment, and to strengthen the contribution of research to the economy.
UKRPIF is managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), in collaboration with the other three UK higher education funding bodies - – the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, The Scottish Funding Council and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland.
Proposals are assessed by an independent assessment panel.
UKRPIF was first launched with £100 million of public finance in May 2012. In response to the large number of high-quality bids, the Government tripled the public support to £300 million in autumn 2012 and ran a second round of the special funding initiative. In June 2013, the Government announced a further two rounds of UKRPIF, extending it to 2016-17 and making available an additional £200 million to be allocated over two years. An additional £400 million of funding was announced for UKRPIF in the 2015 budget for the period to 2021, taking the total government investment in the fund to £900 million.