Janssen, Merck and GE Healthcare join forces in the UK

The Oxford Science Park (TOSP) is to house the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC), the UK's first facility dedicated to the field.

Located on a new plot close to the Magdalen Centre, home to many SMEs, the £66m VMIC addresses the UK’s gap in late-stage vaccine manufacturing process development.

The VMIC is supported by pharma companies Janssen, part of Johnson & Johnson, and Merck. Expertise and training in state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment will be provided by GE Healthcare.

The University of Oxford, Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have established VMIC-UK to run the centre, which is expected to be up and running by the spring of 2022.

Led by the Jenner Institute, a partnership between the University of Oxford and the Pirbright Institute, the new centre has been awarded funding by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) of £66 million through the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Medicines Manufacturing challenge.

Piers Scrimshaw-Wright, Managing Director of The Oxford Science Park, commented: "The Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre will be a major part of the UK life sciences research and manufacturing infrastructure, and we are delighted that it will be located here.

Building on Oxford’s reputation as a centre of excellence in vaccines research, this multi-party initiative provides a significant boost to the collaborative ethos here. As well as providing local jobs, it complements TOSP’s long-term commitment to science, innovation and entrepreneurship in Oxford, and we look forward to working with the VMIC team on its development."