The Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation

Tuesday 16th December, 2003 Supporting Regional Bioscience Business Success

The IPI, opened in October 2003 by the Science Minister Lord Sainsbury, offers unique access to state-of-the-art materials analysis, bio-analysis and supercomputer facilities, together with scientific and commercial mentoring to help new enterprises to grow.

Research within the IPI focuses on ways to bring new and better drugs to market more quickly, and provides the global pharmaceutical industry with a unique resource in computational pharmaceutics.

Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, has sponsored the top floor of the IPI building to act as an ‘incubator’ to support new enterprises. It is hoped the Institute will create a number of spin-offs and support the further development of a cluster of innovative bioscience companies in Yorkshire.

The University of Bradford has a strong track record in this area with past successes including the establishment of Bradford Particle Design (now part of Nektar Therapeutics), which was sold for $200m.

IPI Director Paul Thorning said: “At the heart of the IPI is a philosophy of combining world-class scientific research with commercial vision, and this event will help us to show how we can be a regional support to new and innovative bioscience enterprises.”

Yorkshire Forward Executive Director of Business Susan Johnson said: “Yorkshire Forward is pleased to be sponsoring this event which will provide a very useful platform for the IPI at this early stage of its existence. We are confident that the Institute will go on to develop a record of enviable success for the University and the Yorkshire and Humber bioscience cluster.”

During the event representatives will be given a full tour of the building before attending a series of workshops detailing the facilities and business support capabilities at the IPI. The event will also show how computational simulation and AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be an invaluable and accessible resource to small companies as well as large organisations.

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For further information, please contact Emma Scales in Corporate Communications on (01274) 233084/9 or 07879 437986. Alternatively, e-mail or fax on (01274) 236280.