The sell-out UK Manufacturing Medicines Industry Partnership (MMIP) Annual Conference took place at the Discovery Park.

Hosted by Discovery Park and Pfizer UK, Medicines Manufacturing Excellence in the UK is focused on securing the future of the industry via activities such as digital transformation and skills development. With plans to become a centre of excellence in advanced manufacturing, these are issues of strategic importance for the Park.

This plan is underlined by the announcement from Pfizer UK on a £5m investment in advanced paediatric manufacturing - the latest in its series of manufacturing and innovation investments on site, totalling £36m since 2018. In addition, Concept Life Sciences, another tenant, launched its state-of-the-art facility for the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients for industry partners earlier this week.

At the conference, over 170 delegates heard from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the BioIndustry Association (BIA), Eisai, GSK, Innovate UK, the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, Kate Barclay Consulting, Kent County Council, the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, the Office for Life Sciences, Oxford Biomedica, Pfizer UK and Siemens. Topics covered included the impact of advanced digital technologies, developing the optimum skills and leadership base, advanced therapies and anchoring high value manufacturing activities in the UK in the future. The UK ABPI, BIA and KTN are partners in the conference and in MMIP.

Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, said, 'Alongside Pfizer UK we're delighted to be hosting the third MMIP Annual Conference here. The issues being discussed are very pertinent to us as we build on this site's manufacturing heritage to become a centre of excellence. As Discovery Park develops we expect many other companies to locate here to access the developing expertise and skills base, which will be boosted by the exciting new paediatric manufacturing activities announced by Pfizer.

The news that Kent County Council is investing in a VC fund to support life sciences businesses at Discovery Park is another exciting development. It is a significant boost to our plans to build a world class and world-leading science park here.’

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