MRC UK Call for Expressions of interest: Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies
The Medical Research Council (MRC) UK in collaboration with LifeArc fund this call Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapies, which has expanded rapidly over the past decade. However, translation of UK initiated gene therapies into clinical and financial value has been inhibited by a lack of facilities to support the development of these therapies through early stage clinical trials.
Objective:
- Accelerate the translation of new therapies including those for rare disease patients in desperate need of new treatment options,
- Increase UK capacity for GMP viral vector manufacturing to support academically led translation by expanding or repurposing existing facilities and enabling new facilities
- Expand the UK skills base in gene therapy development, technology transfer, medicines translation and GMP grade vector manufacturing,
- Establish a coordinated national network linking the facilities,
- Enable improved coordination of vector manufacturing process development, ensuring access to advanced manufacturing methods and shared IP for the UK academic network which also aligns to support rapid transition to commercial scale.
Eligible activities:
- Staffing costs for dedicated posts – providing appropriate recognition and enabling talent retention
- Staff training
- Facility and maintenance costs for necessary laboratory space
- Equipment and reagents to underpin viral vector manufacturing projects
- Network management and dissemination costs
- Purchasing of network shared licences for process know-how or vector backbones.
- GMP certification and refurbishment costs that would enable existing clean rooms without current GMP status to obtain this
- Support services to enable the Hubs to operate in an efficient and agile way for example to contracts services.
Proposed hubs must be based within UK-based research organisations or businesses and all awards must comply with UK subsidy control and/or EU State Aid regulations as applicable.
Expressions of interest deadline June 1, 2020.
Read more here.
