Latest UK Life Sciences News

Croda International has officially opened new biotechnology R&D laboratories at Sci-Tech Daresbury, designating the site its global centre for biotechnology research. The facility, formally opened by Minister for Reindustrialisation Blair McDougall MP and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, is expected to support future job creation both at Daresbury and Croda's other four UK sites, and has already produced KeraBio K31, a biotech-derived keratin ingredient now being commercialised globally.

Upperton has secured MHRA approval to bring its new Annex 1-aligned sterile manufacturing facility at Trent Gateway, Nottingham, within the scope of its existing MIA(IMP) licence, allowing it to begin GMP manufacture of sterile investigational medicinal products. The 7,000 sq ft facility, designed for small-scale aseptic and terminally sterilised drug product manufacture, sits alongside Upperton's existing 50,000 sq ft development and clinical manufacturing site, extending its offering to include sterile fill-finish for early-phase clinical programmes.

Infinitopes has taken an initial 800 sq ft at Motherlabs, ARC Oxford's accelerator space, becoming its first occupier after graduating from the Oxford BioEscalator. The move follows the company's $35.1 million seed round and the start of its first-in-human trial of ITOP1, with plans already in place to expand into a bespoke 5,000 sq ft laboratory and office on the campus.

SilviBio is preparing to break ground on its first production facility in Scotland, moving its peat and coir-free growing media from pilot scale to commercial volumes ahead of the early 2027 growing season. The Livingston-based company makes its products entirely from UK-sourced materials including sheep's wool, and its technology was developed with support from IBioIC through the Innovate UK-led Scottish Bio-based Manufacturing Launchpad.

Fusion Antibodies has received a notice of acceptance from IP Australia for its patent application covering two families of antibodies and methods for designing antibody libraries, complementing its OptiMAL antibody discovery platform. The company is progressing equivalent patent applications in Europe and China, with the Australian patent expected to grant after a three-month gazetting period.

GSK will invest £400 million to build a new 300,000 sq ft R&D centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, home to more than 1,000 GSK scientists working across Oncology, Respiratory, Hepatology, Vaccines and HIV. The move will see GSK vacate its 50-year Stevenage site by 2029, with employees relocating in a phased move, while its Ware laboratories are upgraded to create integrated drug development and manufacturing scale-up capability.