Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership celebrates successes and showcases industry thought leadership at flagship 2018 conference
The Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) held its second annual conference on June 7th 2018.
Leaders from across the industry came together for a focussed day of thought-provoking discussion around unleashing the power of the sector at GlaxoSmithKline’s Stevenage site.
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Leaders from industry and academia travelled from across the UK to meet met at GlaxoSmithKline’s Stevenage site on Thursday 7th June to participate in MMIP’s 2018 conference Propelling growth: Taking the next step in innovative medicines manufacturing. The conference, sponsored by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and organised delivered by the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), positioned the discussions around three key themes:
1.     The future of medicines manufacturing in the UK Рcurrent MMIP achievements and direction
2.     Powering our sector with the future enabling technologies
3.     Delivering the Life Sciences Sector Deal for MMIP
The day brought together some of the most prominent figures from inside and outside of the industry in a mix of engaging speaker presentations and interactive panel sessions. The recurring theme of the session proved to be that the largest innovations in the 21st Century are to occur at the intersection between biology and technology.  To conclude the day, attendees were shown around visited the innovative Digital Factory and Factory of the Future Future and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre facilities facilities, both co-located at the site.
An overview of the day’s conversations can be found below while the presentations are available here.
Welcome from Roger Connor and Professor Sir John Bell
·       Roger Connor, President of Global Manufacturing & Supply at GlaxoSmithKline, opened the day by explaining the benefits of cross-industry collaboration in tackling the challenges that the medicines manufacturing industry is currently facing.
·       Professor Sir John Bell of Oxford University, Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Champion, addressed the conference via video (below), where he emphasised the importance of securing continued investment into pharmaceutical medicines manufacturing and explained that the life sciences industry is “without question” the most productive sector in the UK economy, and that manufacturing is the most productive aspect of this industry.
Professor Sir John Bell addressed the Manufacturing Medicines Industry Partnership delegates
MMIP achievements and direction with Andy Evans
·       Andy Evans, Chair of MMIP and Head of the AstraZeneca Macclesfield site, explained the mission of MMIP: to become the leading force voice in manufacturing innovation and to grow the UK’s medicines manufacturing footprint, as well as delivering economic benefits on a local and national scale.
·       Nick Medcalf, Interim Challenge Director for the ISCF Medicines Manufacturing Challenge Innovation Lead at Innovate UK, discussed the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) and their £146m investment in support of developing new technologies for medicines manufacturing.
·       Annette Doherty, Senior Vice-President of Product Development and Supply at GSK, explored the trends, opportunities and challenges in the pharmaceutical discovery arena and their associated impacts on pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
·       To conclude the first session of the day, Jo Craig, Vice-President of Research & Development at GlaxoSmithKline, chaired[SG1]  a panel session with the above three speakers.
Powering the sector with enabling technologies
·       Mike Houghton, Managing Director of Process Industries and Drives at Siemens, described how the Made Smarter Review had contributed to building a robust strategy for leveraging digital technologies at the national level with the ambition of driving up productivity, job creation and export revenue for the UK.
·       Professor Lionel Clarke, co-Chairman of the UK Synthetic Biology Leadership Council, explored the basics of Synthetic Biology and its transformative potential, with projections suggesting that the SynBio market will could be worth $100bn by 2023.
·       James Miskin, Chief Technical Officer at Oxford BioMedica, explored the progression of Advanced Therapiescell and gene therapies, highlighting the inherent advantages they hold over conventional medicines, as well as discussing the shortage of Advanced Therapy manufacturing in the UK.
·       Andy Evans concluded this session with an open panel discussion with the three speakers.
Delivering on the Life Sciences Sector deal
·       Dave Tudor, Vice-President and Head of Global Manufacturing and Supply Strategy at GlaxoSmithKline, prefaced this interactive discussion with an insight into the industry’s deep-rooted challenges around market access.
·       Chairing the final panel of the day was Jon-Paul Sherlock, Global Technology Strategy Director at AstraZeneca. Sue Dunkerton, Director at Knowledge Transfer Network, Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry Association, and Mike Thompson, CEO of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, fielded a debate on the progress that the pharmaceutical sector had made with its Industrial Strategy, and how to make the UK even more appealing for future investment.
Launch of New Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Scotland
The new Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) is a £56 million investment, which includes £13 million from UK Research and Innovation through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund plus a further £15 million from Scottish Enterprise, as well as £7 million each from AstraZeneca and GSK. The centre will develop highly efficient technologies and enable industry, academia, healthcare providers and regulators to work together, as well as aiming to be a world leader in innovative small molecule medicines manufacturing.
To be located in Renfrewshire in Scotland, it’s a joint venture led by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership, AstraZeneca and GSK. The MMIC aims to create 80 R&D jobs by 2023 and attract £80 million of R&D investment by 2028.