UK healthcare innovations in 2016

It is focusing on technologies with the potential to deliver industry-changing results; biologics, pharmaceuticals, intelligent packaging, medical photonics and healthcare sensors.

Since launching the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre at the end of 2015, it has become a central hub for the commercialisation of new manufacturing techniques and processes in the medicine market. One of the most notable partners in this space has been Cancer Research UK (CRUK) who have chosen CPI as part of its oncology drug development programme. CPI is working with CRUK to carry out the pre-clinical development of two cancer drug candidates to help the charity de-risk early stage development. If the results are positive, CRUK will continue with further scale-up studies and GMP manufacture leading to clinical trials.

Away from medicines, CPI has been working with UK SME Applied Nanodetectors to develop a needle-free breathalyser for daily diabetes testing. Utilising CPI’s knowledge of low-cost printed biosensors, it has been exploring the feasibility of designing and printing a biosensor for incorporation into a breathalyser that measures glucose levels in human breath. The resulting diagnostic device could represent a fundamental breakthrough in the monitoring of glycemic levels, potentially spelling the end of painful needle based testing methods.

CPI's new National Centre for Healthcare Photonics has been building traction throughout 2016 with the infrastructure design stage commencing. The new National Centre is set to open in 2018 and will provide the facilities and expertise needed to help companies of all sizes to develop their photonics-based technologies for healthcare and turn them into commercially viable products.