An update on CPI’s achievements in Biologics

The 5000 m² centre is a flexible non-GMP facility that houses 13 laboratories. We have employed 46 staff to date, including 20 doctoral scientists, from a variety of backgrounds bringing a wealth of experience from industry and academia.

The National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, based at Central Park in Darlington, was established to support the growth of the UK biologics industry. The centre combines state-of-the-art facilities and technical expertise to help companies develop, prove and commercialise the next-generation of biologic products and processes.

Our technical capabilities currently span microbial, mammalian and next-generation biologic platforms, with the ability to scale up from millilitres to 200 litres, and demonstrate innovative new process technologies… find out more about our technical capabilities.

Achievements to date

Since opening our doors in September 2015 we have….

• Won 13 grant-funded CR&D projects with a total value in excess of £30 million 
• Partnered with or given support to 19 universities and research organisations
• Engaged with over 150 SMEs resulting in projects with 24 of them 
• Secured 27 commercial contracts and completed 19 to date

Innovation through Collaboration

One of our latest projects is Biostreamline, this highly innovative, collaborative project brings together five partners across the UK including Lonza Biologics, UCB Celltech, Sphere Fluidics, Horizon Discovery, and Alcyomics Ltd. 

This £11.2m project applies cutting-edge technologies to overcome some of the most significant shortcomings of the biologics supply chain and deliver cost-effective therapies to patients.

The project will result in the development of a decision-making tool with rapid prototyping capability that can predict key information about a molecule including its performance characteristics, how easy it will be to manufacture and how easy it will be to formulate, based on its sequence. Ultimately, this will significantly improve the efficiency of manufacturing systems for the next generation of biologics.