Dr Dave Tudor, previously Head of Manufacturing Strategy for GlaxoSmithKline, has been appointed Managing Director of the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, a unique facility offering transformative solutions in small molecule and fine chemical manufacturing, funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

As Managing Director, Dr Tudor will be responsible for delivering the business strategy for the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, which is a collaboration between the Centre for Process Innovation, the University of Strathclyde, GSK and AstraZeneca. The Centre is supported by a £13 million investment from UK Research and Innovation, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, along with £15 million from Scottish Enterprise and £7 million from both GSK and AstraZeneca.

Dr Dave Tudor said:

I’m excited to begin my role as Managing Director of the Centre and to have the chance to create a transformative strategy for life science in the UK. My aim is to connect the industry and bring partners together to work in a non-competitive way. What really motivates me is the idea that we can avoid waste, reduce costs and make these medicines more accessible and more affordable. Anything that can be done to transform the product and make it cheaper has got to be a good thing.

Dr Ian Campbell, Executive Chair for Innovate UK and joint- responsible officer for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund said:

The Medicines Manufacturing Centre will be a major facility and a jewel in the crown for the UK’s life sciences sector. I’m very pleased that we have managed to attract someone of Dave Tudor’s calibre, experience and connections. His appointment demonstrates the value that the industry sees in the investment the Government is making through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

With over 27 years of leadership experience, Dr Tudor will help the Centre to achieve its ultimate goal of lowering the cost of drugs, which will make healthcare more affordable for providers and patients.

After completing a PhD in Chemistry from Glasgow University, Dr Tudor joined SmithKline Beecham in 1992 and moved to GSK in 1997. He has held various management and leadership positions throughout his 27 years working in the pharmaceutical industry. Since 2011, he has served on the Board of Directors for Chemical Industry Association, the Chemical Growth Partnership, the Glasgow Economic Board and various UK Innovation Centres.

Dr Tudor has been involved with the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre since its inception, and will be using his role as Managing Director to investigate how the UK can drive more value from life science research and development.

The Centre aims to address the key challenges facing the pharmaceutical sector by bringing industry, academia and government together to accelerate the translation of technology and provide a better economic return for the sector. It will enable new and disruptive technologies to be proven at scale. This will allow the rapid adoption of next-generation processes that reduce risk, cut costs and save time.

Andy Jones, ISCF Medicines Manufacturing Challenge Director, said:

I’m looking forward to working closely with Dave Tudor and his whole team to drive this crucial phase of turning the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre from plans into reality. The Centre is a vital new facility for the whole of the UK, both in terms of saving more lives and creating even better conditions for Life Sciences companies to thrive and grow in a fiercely competitive global market.

Located in the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District in Renfrewshire, Scotland, the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre aims to attract over £80 million of R&D investment by 2028 and will create 80 high value jobs by 2023. While its premises are under construction, the staff of the Centre will be based in the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre Zone.

Dr Graham Turnock, Chief Executive, UK Space Agency said:

After the Earth, Mars is the most habitable planet in the Solar System, so it’s a perfect destination to explore the possibility of life on other planets, as well as the history of our own.

Both of the potential landing sites – Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis – preserve a rich record of geological history from the planet’s wetter past, approximately four billion years ago, however the potential for science return had to be balanced with the prospect of landing safely.

Professor John Bridges, from the Space Research Centre, University of Leicester, a member of the Landing Site Selection Working Group, explains why Oxia Planum has been recommended:

After over 4 years of careful study of HiRISE and more recently CaSSIS images Oxia Planum was chosen because scientists were convinced that its fine grained sediments, deposited during the ancient Noachian epoch were ideally suited for the Exobiology rover.

With an enormous catchment area the sediments will have captured organics from a wide variety of environments over a long period of time, including areas where life may have existed. The fine sediments should also be ideal for the ExoMars drill – it aims to get to 2 metres depth.

Remote identification with the Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Infrared spectrometers shows the presence of clays and other minerals giving clues to its aqueous history.

A large group of scientists have been working on proposing, characterising and down selecting the sites, all of which had fascinating aspects, but Oxia Planum is the clear winner on both science and engineering constraints.

The UK Space Agency is the second largest European contributor to the ExoMars mission, having invested €287 million in the mission and £14 million on the instruments. This, in addition to successful negotiations with ESA, secured key mission contracts for the UK space sector.

Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration, UK Space Agency said:

I have been working on ExoMars for over ten years and am amazed at the ingenuity and dedication of UK engineers and scientists in building the rover and instruments that will work in the extreme environment of Mars.

Our end goal is in sight and it is getting very exciting.

The government’s modern Industrial Strategy is backing businesses to succeed by increasing investment in science, because countries that invest in ideas create more opportunities for business. The ambition is for the UK be the world’s most innovative economy – and the development of the ExoMars rover for the UK is a part of this ambition.

Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage is leading the build of the rover while the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory is leading on a key instrument known as the PanCam, a high-resolution 3D camera which will be used to look at the terrain and rocks to try to detect signs of life.

The University of Leicester and Teledyne e2v are working on the Raman Spectrometer with STFC RAL Space providing some of the electronics, including the data processing board.

The recommendation was made today following a two-day meeting held at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK, which saw experts from the Mars science community, industry, and ExoMars project present and discuss the scientific merits of the sites alongside the engineering and technical constraints.

The Leicester recommendation will be reviewed internally by ESA and Roscosmos with an official confirmation expected mid-2019.

Renowned for their high quality medical technology, Becton Dickinson (BD) have operations in the likes of the US, Japan and the Middle East, employing 65,000 people across the world. In the UK and Ireland, they have eight sites which employ 2,800 associates in a variety of research, manufacturing and retail roles.

DIT have helped BD, whose Plymouth operation is predominantly manufacturing based, with export and investment advice and support from our network of International Trade Advisors, who are based across the UK.

With 2.6 billion products being produced at the south-west facility every year, the company specialise in the production of blood collection tubes which sell to hospitals and medical facilities in all corners of the globe.

Speaking on the visit, Baroness Fairhead said:

Becton Dickinson are a great example of a global business whose export and manufacturing operation is helping to drive growth in their local community through initiatives such as their apprenticeship scheme.

The Department for International Trade stands ready to support any business in south west England, and across the country, who has the ambition to export. This support includes our network of Trade Advisors who are on hand to offer guidance, our award-winning export credit agency, UK Export Finance, and a variety of export opportunities through GREAT.gov.uk.

The visit comes after BD announced a further investment of more than £170m last year, which will see additional manufacturing lines added to their Plymouth site.

Mike Fairbourn, VP Country General Manager UK & Ireland, said:

With over 3000 associates working in clinical research, manufacturing and commercial roles, BD UK and Ireland is proud to be helping support the safer, more efficient delivery of healthcare. Our mission is to advance the world of health, and we continue to invest in helping UK and Irish healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes that ultimately give people the best lives possible.

With a need to recruit more engineers in the South West of England, BD are running an apprenticeship scheme which has 40 apprentices working at the site at any one time, including 12 who specifically look at engineering and spend four years working at the site. This is all part of a strategy which the company has set out, with government support, to engage with young people in the Plymouth area.

The South West saw a solid increase of 7% in its goods exports last year with £21 billion of products being sold in markets such as the US, Germany and the UAE. This is partly due to a dedicated team of more than 20 trade advisors in the region. These advisors work with the government’s network of HM Trade Commissioners, the UK’s overseas partners and private companies to locate export and investment opportunities to match the strong ambitions of regional businesses.

DIT’s recently launched Export Strategy sets out how the government will support businesses of all sizes to make the most of the opportunities presented by markets around the world.

A government-led collaboration with business, developed after extensive engagement with a range of UK firms – the Export Strategy sets a new ambition from government to increase exports as a proportion of UK GDP to 35%.