The University of Birmingham’s Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) has secured government backing to deliver three new commercial cleanrooms, expanding the region’s capacity to manufacture advanced therapies.
The £10.7m funding will support the development and staffing of a new 5,000 sqft GMP-compliant facility, which will house the three cleanrooms alongside supporting laboratory and production infrastructure.
The funds were awarded through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, a UK government funding programme designed to strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity for medicines, vaccines and advanced therapies.
Once operational, the facility will enable pharmaceutical researchers and industry partners to manufacture advanced therapeutics, including mRNA vaccines and cell-based treatments, within controlled, sterile environments.
“The UK, and particularly the West Midlands, urgently needs GMP cleanroom facilities to support the production of ATMPs and vaccines, including cell therapies and mRNA vaccines, as well as medicines for clinical trials,” said Professor Gino Martini, CEO of PHTA.
Cleanrooms are essential in pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications, where even microscopic impurities can compromise product safety and efficacy.
Located within Birmingham’s Health and Life Sciences District, the new cleanroom facility will enhance the UK’s research and development infrastructure.
The facility will support the rapid development, testing and manufacture of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and vaccines for both clinical trials and patient treatment.
The project also supports efforts to strengthen national resilience in responding to future health emergencies by enabling faster, localised production of critical therapies.
Ramping up production of innovative medicines
The facility will operate as a ‘near-patient’ biomanufacturing centre, producing biologic medicines derived from cells or cell components, which typically have short shelf lives and require proximity to clinical settings.
Its co-location with Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is expected to provide a significant boost to translational research and clinical delivery.
“This new investment will…[ensure] patients get access to the latest, most innovative medicines. Having these facilities in place will also build resilience into the NHS, ensuring future pandemic preparedness,” said Martini.
The cleanrooms will also benefit from close links to leading regional and national research centres, including the NIHR Midlands-Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre, the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, and the UKRI-designated Centre of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation in AI.
In parallel, the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust are leading Europe’s first clinical trial of a personalised mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer, underlining the growing importance of localised, high-specification manufacturing capability in accelerating next-generation therapies.