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Case study

Medicines for the future

KTN’s ability to convene sectors and its deep understanding of technologies, has catalyzed the medicines manufacturing industry to take bold steps towards life-saving innovations.

Case study

Medicines for the future

With vital input from KTN, the medicines manufacturing industry is taking bold steps towards life-saving innovations.

Summary

The Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) was set up in 2013 to influence industry needs in medicines manufacturing. The first partnership of its kind, it also led to the creation of the groundbreaking Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce. As a partner in MMIP, KTN has been highly influential. Our knowledge of the sector and high-value, leading role at a governance level means the KTN has been able to bring the right people to the table at the right time.

To date, MMIP’s work has positively influenced the Government’s thinking on Industrial Strategy, for the future of UK life sciences, and ultimately led to the announcement of £197 million of Government investment for the medicines manufacturing industry.

“KTN’s knowledge from the start has been both deep and broad. Nobody else has that complete knowledge and overview. One of the reasons the taskforce has been successful is largely because members of the community feel they have been consulted, they are engaged in the process. I admire KTN’s determination, work ethic, passion and commitment put into the project – they really care about delivering results.” Ian McCubbin, Chair of the Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce, Former Chair of the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership and former SVP North America, Japan & Global Pharma Supply, GSK

The MMIP Story

In 2013, a cross-section of industry set up the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP), to form, set out, articulate and drive industry needs in medicines manufacturing – the first time that such a partnership had been created. It also forged a path for the groundbreaking Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce, launched in 2016 and which published its Action Plan for the sector with key recommended actions for Government at the end of the same year.

MMIP’s work has positively influenced the Government’s thinking on Industrial Strategy, for the future of UK life sciences, and ultimately led to the pre-election announcements of £197 million of Government investment for the medicines manufacturing industry.


How did KTN help?

From the beginning, KTN’s position as a partner in MMIP was highly influential. KTN has worked with the senior industrialists and key partner trade associations to set the direction of the MMIP, in particular in the technology and innovation, funding and finance, and community build workstreams.

The taskforce was initially chaired by Ian McCubbin of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for three years, and is now overseen by Andy Evans of Astrazeneca. KTN continues to work closely with Ian on the taskforce activities, and Andy on overarching MMIP priorities, alongside Allergan, AstraZeneca, Eisai, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, GlaxoSmithKline, ReNeuron and Pfizer, BioIndustry Association (BIA) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), as well as the key public sector stakeholders from Office for Life Sciences and Innovate UK.

KTN provides a high-value, leading role at a governance level and among group members. Holding this critical impartial convening power, KTN have been able to bring the right people to the table at the right time. As such, KTN provides a strategic influence to discussions and direct research and recommendations.


Key Outcomes:

1.

UK Medicines Manufacturing Portal

In November 2015, KTN led on and delivered a groundbreaking piece of work. A key component in the role of MMIP was to better understand the UK landscape across all aspects of medicines manufacturing. On behalf of MMIP, KTN carried out a study based on deep sector knowledge and delivered an online portal at www.mmlandscape.ktn-uk.org.

“The launch of the portal meant that for the first time, mass data was available on manufacturing sites in the UK. This type of information hadn’t been available before our audit.” Mark Bustard, KTN project lead, now Business Director, The National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, CPI.

The portal is there to support decision makers and policy makers who require an overview of the medicines manufacturing industry in the UK. It provides a full picture of funding streams, the ecosystem and landscape. As a result of its high value, it is also linked to the government funded life sciences organisation portal, (link: https://lifesciences.trade.gov.uk) to provide an overarching picture of the industry, such as manufacturing site information.

The resource has been commended by former Life Sciences Minister George Freeman, the BIA and ABPI.

2.

Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce

The Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce (ATMT) is a time-bound initiative resulting from a call from then-Life Sciences Minister George Freeman to generate an action plan to secure and grow advanced therapies manufacturing in the UK. It needed an effective, hard working taskforce to ensure delivery in a short time span, and KTN stepped in to lead and deliver.

KTN delivered a powerful engagement programme, talking to 150 key industry stakeholders, going on site with businesses, and hosting workshops and one-to-one discussions to uncover the types of challenges they face every day.

Ian McCubbin of GSK launched the Taskforce Action Plan at the BIA’s Annual bioProcessUK Conference in November 2016. The Government welcomed the way in which the taskforce operated, and is now regarded as a template for joint working between industry and the public sector.

Combined with MMIP’s overall efforts, and complementing the Government’s investment in the sector to date, the Taskforce Action Plan provided a robust blueprint to feed into the Industrial and Life Science Strategy. And as a direct result of all of these efforts, the Government announced £197 million of investment over four years (as part of the £270 million Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund) in its spring 2017 budget for the medicines manufacturing industry. This funding is to develop first-of-a-kind technologies for the manufacture of medicines that will speed up patient access to new drugs and treatments, building on the exporting strengths of the UK’s biopharmaceutical sector.

KTN continues to play a vital governance role in the ongoing partnership, demonstrating its strengths in both innovation and funding. KTN works closely with trade associations and provides support for the rolling Chair. It also provides important cross-collaboration knowledge, research and investigations into how the medicines manufacturing industry can work with other sectors within KTN, for example in SMART packaging, medicines technology and Big Data.

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