08 August 2012
Universities and Science Minister David Willetts and Heath Secretary, Andrew Lansley have announced the first awards from Government’s Biomedical Catalyst have been awarded to fourteen UK universities and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), totalling £10 million out of the available £180 million.
Supporting UK businesses and academics in their first vital step in exploring the market potential, the awards are from the Medical Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).
Prime Minister, David Cameron has also announced that Olympic drug testing laboratories will be converted into a £10 million research centre, which will use cutting edge facilities developed for London 2012. The MRC-MIHR Phenome Centre will help develop better and more targeted treatment for patients, as well as enabling researchers to explore the characteristics of a disease, resulting in the development of new and existing drugs and treatments.
Willets commented on the announcement: "the UK has one of the world's largest and most productive life science sectors. We have cutting edge industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical technologies. We attract almost 10 per cent of the world's pharmaceutical R&D funding”.
While Lansley added: "our investment in the new MRC-NIHR Phenome Centre, the first of its kind, promises better targeted treatments for patients with a wide range of common diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia”.
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