CPI celebrates one year of groundbreaking work at Darlington RNA centre
INNOVATION
CHANGING LIVES FOR THE BETTER
Passionate – Brendan Fish is director of biologics and RNA Centre of Excellence for CPI .
CPI celebrates one year of groundbreaking work at Darlington RNA centre
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
Since 2004 , the Wiltonheadquartered Centre for Process Innovation ( CPI ) has focused on the scientific advancements the UK needs to be a healthier and greener country .
This time last year , CPI opened a multimillion-pound RNA Centre of Excellence in Darlington .
Standing alongside CPI ’ s National Biologics Manufacturing Centre , which opened in 2015 , it was created not only to respond to the unique challenges resulting from the coronavirus pandemic , but to enhance the development of future medicines .
From the outside , it ’ s a fairly unremarkable-looking brown building . But on the inside , remarkable things are happening .
It was built in response to Covid-19 , but its mission has expanded to become the UK ’ s hub for advancing successes in RNAbased vaccines and therapies .
RNA has the potential to revolutionise treatments for everything from infectious diseases to cancer . It is truly the cutting edge of global pharmaceuticals , gaining increasing attention due to its broad potential in disease management .
And that , says director of biologics and RNA Centre of Excellence , Brendan Fish , puts the Tees Valley at the heart of exciting and potentially life-changing possibilities .
A Londoner , Brendan moved north from Cambridge 15 years ago and , in 2022 , switched from pharmaceutical giant GSK to head the RNA Centre of Excellence .
He has a 100-strong team , including around 80 scientists – all working on cutting-edge treatments that could change the world .
Should there be another pandemic , the centre could manufacture between 60 and 150 million doses of vaccine a year .
And thanks to the research and development ongoing in Darlington , treatment for several infectious diseases prevalent elsewhere is on the horizon .
He says : “ We ’ re collaborating with world-leading scientists who want to make medicines for infectious diseases predominant in low and middle income countries .
“ Some of these are really nasty diseases that haven ’ t so far got any specific treatments other than supportive care and thus the impact of what we do is great .” As well as making and developing preventative vaccines , the centre is also looking at potential treatment options and , eventually , developing “ personalised ” medicines for conditions like cancer .
And Brendan says the North-East is the perfect place for it all to happen .
He told Tees Business : “ In terms of science and innovation , we ’ ve got a bit of a cluster building in this part of the world . And that cluster will snowball – there ’ s us , GSK in Barnard Castle , Fujifilm in Billingham , Teesside University and lots of other universities , all in this region .
“ We ’ re building a cluster of a workforce and technical capability , with students who love this part of the world and want to live and work here .
“ Also , it ’ s a masterstroke to be based in Darlington because of the transport links .
“ You ’ re two-and-a-half hours from London or Edinburgh – if you ’ re doing collaborative R & D , it makes the UK a cluster because you can get there and back to your collaborators in a day .”
And there ’ s another crucial element – the people .
Brendan says : “ There ’ s a great culture and attitude of the people who live and work in the North-East . There ’ s the friendliness – it ’ s endearing and lovely – and a really strong ‘ can do ’ attitiude .”
And it ’ s no exaggeration to say that the things going on in the RNA Centre of Excellence could improve millions of lives .
Brendan says : “ In years gone by , scientists were portrayed as boffins doing mad experiments .
“ But the science we do is amazing – the reason we can reduce your symptoms or cure , halt or prevent disease when you get sick is because of the medicines people have invented and discovered in institutions like ours over many , many years .
“ Look at the response to Covid – the scientific community did something incredible with that and there ’ s undoubtably more to come .
“ I ’ m very keen to be a good neighbour and be a part of the community . I like the concept of ‘ place ’ – that we ’ re making a difference to where we ’ re located – and we ’ re doing it through something remarkable , that could give young people the opportunity to have a brilliant career and help to create a healthier planet .”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 91