Science minister opens £6m Bradford institute
Mr Thorning and Lord Sainsbury at the opening of the IPI |
Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science, officially opened the University of Bradford's new £6m Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation (IPI) recently.
The five-storey institute includes analytical, laboratory and computer
facilities for use by the university and pharmaceutical companies. The
IPI aim is to reduce the time taken to develop new medicines by allowing
much of the design, formulation and manufacturing processes to be optimised
by computer simulation rather than conventional testing.
The institute’s top floor will house a “business incubator” unit,
set up with £2m of funding from Yorkshire Forward, the regional
development agency. The institute aims to create a number of spin-off
companies based on its work. Bradford University has already established
Bradford Particle Design (now Nektar Therapeutics), which was recently
sold for £117m.
The institute is led by Paul Thorning, formerly director of Stratalyst,
a consultancy offering advice on optimising the life-cycle and profile
of blockbuster drugs. |
