Healthcare & Life Sciences

Tees Valley is a major location in the pharmaceutical industry, with a vibrant innovation hub and sector bioclusters, we have all the ingredients to be a world-class centre of excellence.

Regional Strength

Tees Valley’s vibrant innovation hub, pioneering university research, top-class NHS facilities and sector bioclusters come together with the commitment, drive and enthusiasm needed to develop a growing industry that has the key ingredients for a world-class centre of excellence.

Bioscience enterprises contribute over £390m (GVA) to the Tees Valley economy and employ more than 6,000 people. Tees Valley is at the forefront of the growing opportunities in life sciences, with four highly regarded NHS trusts, the Centre for Process Innovation’s (CPI) flagship National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre, all supporting the wealth of global healthcare, biologics and pharmaceutical companies operating here.

Investor Confidence

Internationally recognised companies such as FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, KD Pharma and CPI are continuing to invest in the area, alongside SMEs such as Hart Biologicals, Absolute Antibodies and Cambridge Research Biochemicals.

FUJIFILM’s £400million investment plans will create the largest multi-modal biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the UK. Located at its Billingham site it will create up to 350 skilled jobs and will double its existing footprint.

CPI has received £4million of grant funding from Tees Valley to create a cutting edge innovation centre. This new capability will allow CPI to support businesses in developing new and improved food products, including foods with increased health benefits, driving the region forward as a leader in bio-manufacturing.

Central Park

Central Park in Darlington is a key location for biosciences. Totalling 30-hectares it is adjacent to the East Coast Main Line, offering excellent links to London and Edinburgh. It is home to CPI’s £38million National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and Teesside University’s £22million National Horizons Centre.

Find out more about Central Park here →

National Biologics Manufacturing Centre

CPI is the UK’s national technology and innovation centre for the process manufacturing industries. Located in Darlington, CPI’s National Biologics Manufacturing Centre combines state-of-the-art facilities and technical expertise to support the growth and development of the UK biologics industry and supply chain. The National Biologics Manufacturing Centre collaborates with large corporations, SMEs, academia and charities to enable the delivery of innovative manufacturing solutions and to accelerate the cost effective, safe and high-quality manufacture of life-changing biologic therapies.

National Horizons Centre

Teesside University’s £22m National Horizons Centre is a research, teaching and training facility sitting at the heart of a cluster of excellence on Darlington’s Central Park alongside the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and Teesside University’s Centre for Professional and Executive Development. The National Horizons Centre has been established to address the growth needs of the bio-based industries including biologics, industrial biotechnology and bio-pharmaceuticals. Its creation facilitates closer linkages between industry and academia, to provide the sector with knowledge, skills, talent and facilities to support its development and growth.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

The National Horizons Centre facilitates growth through industry-led research and innovation, enabling users to undertake process development, process improvement and product characterisation.

It is one of the most well-equipped bioscience training facilities in the UK offering industry-leading facilities, equipment and resources for bioprocessing, biological imaging, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, biosynthesis and bioinformatics.

The National Horizons Centre is fulfilling a key national role in delivering UK based multi-disciplinary innovation and research using advancements in biologics, informatics and big data to promote new thinking in biologics, health and digital health technologies.

Teesside University

As well as leading the National Horizons Centre development, Teesside University has over 4,200 students studying programmes in the School of Health & Life Sciences with a further 3,700 students studying courses in computing, engineering and digital technologies and has an excellent record of employer engagement.

Clinical Trials

Tees Valley has four NHS trusts and a strong track record of delivering clinical trials, with around 7,250 patients recruited annually and the National Institute for Health Research has ranked the South Tees Trust in the top 11% of NHS trusts in the country for the number of participants recruited to trials. This clinical research is augmented by strong relationships between academic institutions, industry and the NHS and its supportive innovation network drives and helps to fund collaborative research and development for patient gain. The formation of the Durham and Tees Valley Research Alliance in 2019 further enhanced the sharing of resources, maximising the range and scope of the research collectively delivered by the participating Trusts.

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