MMIP Launches Advanced Therapy Manufacturing Taskforce

A new Advanced Therapy Manufacturing Taskforce has been launched by the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) to secure the future of manufacturing advanced therapies in the United Kingdom, according to a March 23, 2016 press announcement from the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).

Co-chaired by George Freeman, minister for life sciences, and Ian McCubbin, SVP North America, Japan & Global Pharma Supply, GlaxoSmithKline, the new taskforce will be working to identify opportunities to advance therapy manufacturing and the associated supply chain in the UK, in addition to identifying any gaps in the manufacturing landscape. Mark Bustard, head of medical biotechnology at the Knowledge Transfer Network, will lead the secretariat for the taskforce. The taskforce will complement the work of the Regenerative Medicine Expert Group (RMEG) that is developing a National Health Service regenerative medicine strategy so that the NHS is fully prepared to deliver these treatments.

According to BIA, the MMIP represents medicines manufacturers in the UK and was jointly established by the government and biopharmaceutical industry in 2014. The UK’s manufacturing base includes 18 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency-licensed facilities for cell- and gene-therapy manufacture. The UK Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre, expected to open in 2017, will be used for the manufacture of late-phase clinical trial and commercial supply of advanced therapies, complementing those early-stage clinical phase manufacturing centers.

“It’s vital that the UK becomes not just a great laboratory for advanced therapies but a great place for them to be manufactured and commercialized,” said Steve Bates, BIA chief executive. “The MMIP taskforce will play a key role in ensuring that this leading sector of modern UK manufacturing continues to grow and produce these ground breaking therapies that will help to solve unmet patient needs both in the UK and its export markets.”

Source: BIA