A new project led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) will enable the seamless translation of innovative vaccine and drug research into new medicines that will prevent disease, save lives and boost the regional economy.
BRITE, a cross-sector partnership which includes universities and industry, has been awarded close to £5m by Research England’s University Commercialisation Ecosystem fund to develop essential capacity to grow the regional and national biologics ecosystem, addressing challenges in their manufacture and commercial scale-up.
Biologics are complex medical products derived from living organisms, designed to prevent or treat a diverse range of infections and diseases, including emerging infectious diseases, cancer and antimicrobial resistance.
The UK is renowned for its biologics expertise, accounting for around 25% of the UK’s pharmaceutical markets and valued at £46bn annually. Despite this strength, gaps remain in infrastructure to turn world-class academic discoveries into new medicines as they require sophisticated manufacturing processes and advanced facilities for the development and scale-up into clinical trials and delivery for patients.
Liverpool City Region is uniquely positioned to address these challenges, as the UK’s first Health and Life Sciences Investment Zone. It’s home to world-leading universities conducting sector-leading scientific research, inpatient and outpatient clinical trial infrastructure and over 300 life sciences businesses generating £850m in Gross Value Added (GVA).
BRITE, a partnership between local academic research institutions LSTM, University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and Edge Hill University, civic partners including the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and leading industry players including AstraZeneca and Unilever, seeks to plug these gaps, establishing the region as a global leader in biologics innovation and manufacturing.
BRITE will help identify and tackle barriers to effective commercialisation to address the shortage of local biomanufacturing facilities and build scale-up capability within the Liverpool City Region, ensuring that biologics assets developed here can be commercialised locally. This collaboration will allow the Liverpool City Region to retain the economic benefit of the research generated by its universities, create high-quality jobs, and ultimately advance health outcomes through innovative therapeutics.
Professor Jonathan Ball, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of LSTM, said: “BRITE reflects LSTM’s deep commitment to translating world-class research into real-world impact — creating high-value jobs, and ensuring that pioneering health solutions are developed, manufactured, and delivered from within our region. It marks a significant milestone for LSTM's partnerships within the Liverpool City Region and, as the lead institution, we are proud to help drive a collaborative initiative that will accelerate the development and commercialisation of biologics while strengthening the region’s position as a national and international hub for health and life sciences.”
Science Minister Lord Vallance said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s best universities, and we have deep strengths from life sciences to cutting-edge fields like quantum and engineering biology. But we can and must do more to unlock scientific research’s vast economic potential, and to help our innovators world-leading public sector labs turn brilliant ideas into businesses that attract investment and sustain jobs.
“The funding and guidance we are announcing today will reinforce those efforts – supporting our mission to grow the economy as part of the Plan for Change.”
Dr Becky Jones-Phillips, Director of Enterprise and Innovation at LSTM and BRITE lead, said: “The opportunity represented through the BRITE programme will be transformative for Liverpool City Region’s developing biomanufacturing ecosystem, creating a centre of excellence for the UK. Using the world-class research of our local universities and commercial life sciences expertise we already have in the region, we will build capability and competency to help scale-up academic innovation into new biologic products.”
BRITE is a partnership led by LSTM, and including University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and Edge Hill University.
Other key partners involved in BRITE are Astra Zeneca, Unilever, Univercells, STFC Hartree Centre, Pharmaron, TriRX, The Pandemic Institute (TPI), Croda, Health Innovation North West Coast (HINWC), Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCR CA), iiCON, LyvaLabs, TriRX and Seqirus.