Innovate UK championing sustainable innovations in medicines manufacturing

In partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Innovate UK has awarded 14 projects a share of £13m funding through the SMMIP Collaborative R&D competition to transform how medicines are manufactured in the UK. These innovative projects will support the development and adoption of sustainable technologies for the manufacturing of medicines and demonstrate the UK’s commitment to fostering innovation that delivers economic and environmental benefits.

The SMMIP is funded as part of the wider VPAG Investment Programme agreed as part of the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG). The VPAG Investment Programme is a new joint government-industry programme to strengthen the UK’s global competitiveness in health and life sciences and drive innovation-led growth. Enabled by circa £400m of funding from scheme members, it is targeting investment across the UK, with initiatives in three focus areas; clinical trials, health technology assessment, and manufacturing.

Tackling sustainability challenges

Traditional medicine manufacturing processes can be resource-intensive, generating significant waste and greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge lies in reducing waste, energy consumption, and emissions, while simultaneously enhancing efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness throughout the manufacturing lifecycle.

By addressing these challenges through innovation and collaboration across the supply chain, the sector can reduce its environmental footprint while driving advancements in manufacturing processes. Embracing innovative approaches will enhance resilience and efficiency, ensuring the industry is well-positioned to meet the growing demands of future healthcare systems whilst aligning with NHS climate change policies and targets.

Collaborative R&D projects

These projects will focus on tackling environmental challenges in pharmaceutical production, including waste reduction, emissions control and energy efficiency, and align with the programme’s three core pillars:

• Circularity
• Green Chemistry
• Productivity and Resource Efficiency

As well as two critical enablers:

• Regulation
• Measurements, Standards and Data

The ambitious projects funded under this competition reflect the transformative potential of UK innovation. From green chemistry to resource efficiency, these advancements will help shape a sustainable and resilient future for healthcare.

– Dr Mark Talford, Deputy Director of Future Medicines at Innovate UK

CR&D Competition Winners

Circularity Pillar

Nexus: Intelligent Manufacturing Systems for Sustainable Bioprocessing
Project Lead: Photocentric Ltd
Bringing together expertise in automation, digital design, material innovation, and bioprocessing to advance additive manufacturing of sustainable bioreactors for biopharma – enhancing circularity and system flexibility.

Green Chemistry pillar

Bio2Amine-Fampridine: delivering sustainable small molecule API manufacturing
Project Lead: HydRegen Ltd
HydRegen’s Bio2Amine biocatalyst platform revolutionises API-manufacturing by replacing metal-catalysts, achieving green chemistry goals, and reducing costs and carbon footprint, scaled and validated with partner, Drochaid.

GalanCEAmine: Sustainable Galanthamine Production from Daffodils Using Controlled Environment Agriculture
Project Lead: Grampian Growers Ltd
This project optimises Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) for daffodil cultivation, ensuring a sustainable, year-round supply of bioactive compounds for Alzheimer’s treatment using green extraction methods.

The Bio Revolution for weight-loss drugs: Enabling biomanufacturing of blockbuster GLP-1 agonists
Project Lead: Constructive Biology Ltd
Constructive Bio will collaborate with the Centre for Process Innovation to transform traditional chemical therapeutic peptide synthesis with a greener, scalable biomanufacturing route.

SUMMIT – SUstainable Manufacture of Macromolecular Intracellular Therapeutics
Project Lead: Aqdot Ltd
Develop a sustainable, small-footprint facility capable of making up to 10 million doses per day of RNA-based vaccines that can be manufactured locally, used globally.

DigiCCAMMS: Digital Crystallisation Control for Advanced Medicines Manufacturing Sustainability
Project Lead: The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
DigiCCAMMS empowers scientists with cutting-edge computational tools to predict drug particle shapes and properties, revolutionising medicine manufacturing for greater efficiency and innovation.

Novel Biocatalysts for Sustainable Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals
Project Lead: Erebagen Ltd
ErebaGen’s innovations harness bacterial enzymes evolved by Nature over millions of years. Its project aims to replace hazardous chemical manufacture with cost-effective, sustainable enzymatic processes.

Productivity and Resource Efficiency Pillar

Antibodies Unchained: Cold-Chain Free and Patient-Friendly therapies
Project Lead: Ensilicated Technologies Ltd
A shell made of silica, Ensilication®, will be used to make monoclonal antibody medicines room-temperature stable, saving energy, reducing waste and improving treatment access globally.

Solvent Evaluation using a Novel System for measuring thermal Energy exchange: Project SENSE – the LiquiSensor
Project Lead: Proxisense Ltd
Based on the science of heat transfer, the project will develop LiquiSensor, a robust and accurate PAT probe for in-line monitoring of solvents and reactions.

Building a Sustainable Platform for rAAV Gene Therapy Manufacturing
Project Lead: Plurify Ltd
Development of a new technology to make gene therapy production more efficient and affordable, helping to improve access to life-changing treatments for patients.

AI-Driven Digital Twin for Enhancing Productivity and Resource Efficiency in 3D-Printed Personalised Pharmaceuticals (3DDTBPRE)
Project Lead: FABRX Ltd
Development of an AI-driven digital twin platform to revolutionise personalised medicine, by embedding a Quality by Design (QbD) principles directly into the 3D printing process.

ZeroShotAPI: Using ZeroShot Machine Learning and an automated HTE reactor to derive universal chemical reaction condition parameters for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.
Project Lead: Reactwise Technologies Ltd
ZeroShotAPI is an AI-powered platform that will significantly accelerate pharmaceutical process development. It uses advanced machine-learning to improve chemical processes and enables decision-making in real-time.

Mastering the Sustainability of Scalable Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing
Project Lead: Biologic Technologies Ltd
The project will deploy the smart platform for bioprocessing from BiologIC Technologies for end-to-end production across a range of scales, together with novel capture technology and predictive models of scalability and sustainability from Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre, to increase yields of viral vectors and reduce the cost of cell and gene therapies for patients.

Applying computer vision, machine learning and data analytics in the LumiMan system to maximise productivity and resource efficiency in sustainable medicines manufacturing.
Project Lead: Reach Industries Ltd
Lumi, by Reach Industries, revolutionizes medicine manufacturing with AI-powered visual intelligence and smart glasses, automating data capture, error detection, and compliance, enhancing efficiency and sustainability.