Biomedical sector bounding ahead

Princess Anne flew in to Liverpool in July to open the new Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases (CTID) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

It is not the fist Royal visit for the School, which was founded in 1898 as the world's first institution devoted to tropical health, but it marks the latest stage of its development as a world-class research centre into tropical diseases.

The School has extensive links with UN organisations, health ministries, universities, non-governmental organisations and research institutions worldwide and is involved in numerous programmes to control diseases of poverty and develop more effective systems for health care. It has a research order book totalling more than £130 million and an annual intake of some 400 students from more than 70 countries.

It recently received a US$30 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the treatment and control of malaria in pregnancy in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The grant will fund research at Liverpool and at 38 partner institutions in 27 countries around the world. The success of the LSTM is evidence of the Northwest's global standing in biomedical R&D. The region boasts over 230 biomedical companies employing around 25,000 employees, including six multinational pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Sanofi Aventis, Bristol Myers Squibb and Mediummune). In the Liverpool city region alone, there are over 80 biotech companies employ over 4000 skilled people, generating an annual turnover of around £250 million.

Some of the most dynamic and fastest growing of these are based at the new £30 million National Biomanufacturing Centre (NBC) in Liverpool, a leading European biopharmaceutical design centre and a central business location. The NBC works with biotech companies and academic institutions to develop medicines from the research laboratory to the clinic, enabling UK biotech companies and researchers to benefit from advanced expertise, practical support and cutting-edge facilities.

The Northwest also excels academically in biomedical research, and in skills and training. Researchers in the region consistently conduct pioneering studies, as evidenced by recent breakthroughs in the field of stem cell research at the University of Manchester. Indeed, the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester received two five-star ratings for pre-clinical studies and biological sciences in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2001), making it the only five-star biological sciences department in the country, as well as the largest.

Liverpool and Manchester are also the locations for two of the country's eleven biomedical research centres (BRCs). The Liverpool BRC was established in 2007 and specialises in microbial diseases. Manchester's BRC is the most recent and is expected to create more than 150 jobs. Run by Central Manchester Hospitals and the University of Manchester, it will benefit from a £4.9 million investment from the Northwest Regional Development Agency, with Northwest-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Renovo also agreeing to inject funds into the £35 million project.

Along with big names like AstraZeneca and Renovo which are thriving in the region, the Northwest is home to host of smaller, innovative biomedical companies which benefit from the region's biomedical skills base, peerless training and education facilities and supportive investment and R&D environment.

Chester-based pharmaceutical company IS Pharma, whose main focus is on critical care, neurology and oncology, is just one of many smaller Northwest biomedical firms enjoying large-scale success.

IS Pharma, which listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 2007, recently acquired Swiss drug supplier Speciality European Pharma International as part of its strategy to break into the US pharmaceutical market. Tim Wright, CEO of IS Pharma, said: "the acquisition represents the next step in our strategy of creating a profitable specialist hospital medicines business, growing organically and by targeted acquisition."

Along with big names like AstraZeneca and Renovo which are thriving in the region, the Northwest is home to host of smaller, innovative biomedical companies which benefit from the region's biomedical skills base, peerless training and education facilities and supportive investment and R&D environment.