GSK plans
pharmafile | October 14, 2009 | News story | Research and Development | GSK
GlaxoSmithKline, the government and the Wellcome Trust are collaborating to build what they hope will be a "world-class" science park.
Designed to attract early-stage biotechnology companies, it will be located on GSK's site at Stevenage and set up with initial funding of £38 million.
The US remains ahead of the UK in terms of basic bioscience research and the new park has been conceived as a competitor to similar sites in Boston, California and North Carolina.
GSK told Pharmafocus it wants to start building work early next year with a view to the first people moving on site in 2011.
The company, which invested £1.3bn in R&D in the UK last year, is contributing £11m in land, facilities and investment.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will provide almost £17m, while Wellcome gives almost £6m and the East of England Development Agency £4m.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson said the centre will help build towards a stronger UK economy coming out of recession.
"The Stevenage Campus represents a huge investment in the future of Britain's bioscience industry," he said. "Innovation drives commercial invention; it pushes up productivity; it is at the heart of growth.
"And this joint investment by the public, private and charitable sectors recognises that innovation will be decisive in Britain's recovery," Mandelson concluded.
The new campus will give companies shared access to specialist skills, equipment and expertise to stimulate new innovation in drug development, the backers insist.
When complete, the new centre will house around 1,500 scientists.
"The Stevenage Campus will affirm the UK as a global hub for the life-sciences industry," said GSK chief executive Andrew Witty.
"It will bring together scientists from around the world, providing them with new access to leading research and development facilities."
The Wellcome Trust has a strong track record in backing pharma programmes, including those that may be less profitable.
This summer, as part of its 'Seeding Drug Discovery' initiative it supported several pharma companies' anti-infective research.
These included work on an anti-MRSA chemical, while GSK itself received £4 million to test part of its current anti-bacterial portfolio in search of a novel class of anti-Gram negative agents.
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