BQ2 West Midlands The next generation of healthcare

in partnership with

SPECIAL REPORT: THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEALTHCARE COBRA BITES BACK How gene therapy pioneers gave the recession the slip WE’RE FIGHTING FIT Business leaders give their diagnosis of health sector SHARING A BOLD VISION The Institute of Translational Medicine’s founding fathers

The West Midlands Academic Health Science Network improving health and generating wealth The WMAHSN is driven by two interrelated imperatives: improving population health and generating economic growth in our region.

As a partnership bringing together NHS commissioners and providers, academia and industry, the WMAHSN is uniquely placed to support the NHS in increasing its contribution to the economy.

We do this both directly and indirectly: AHSNs are market makers; opening doors and creating a more conducive environment for relevant industries to work more effectively with the NHS and other parts of the UK healthcare sector, making it an internationally competitive place to do business and discover tomorrow’s innovations, as well as making UK healthcare a sought after product internationally AHSNs impact on the productivity of healthcare providers and the outcomes of patients, and therefore the productivity of the workforce at large, through our remit of spreading best practice.

Being based in the West Midlands, the WMAHSN is in a strong position. We have strong regional and national networks of collaboration, with regional and local centres of expertise and specialist activity.

The region guarantees world-class facilities, clinical infrastructure and research profile, with access to one of the largest and most ethnically diverse catchment areas in Europe. This, coupled with our favourable local economy and unrivalled transport links, means that the West Midlands has considerable advantages for research and life science businesses over other parts of the UK.

If you have an idea or innovation that truly represents a step change in healthcare practice, and is aligned to one or more of our priorities or themes, we would like to hear from you.

Alternatively, if you have identified a gap in provision in NHS or social care in the West Midlands, represented by one of our priorities, or that you feel could be addressed by one of our themes, please get in touch.

To contact us and ďŹ nd out more: info@wmahsn.org | www.wmahsn.org | @wmahsn

CONTENTS

CONTACTS

04 NEWS

ROOM501 LTD Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk

A round-up of the latest developments shaping the healthcare sector

EDITORIAL Ian Halstead e: halsteadian@aol.com

10 FIGHTING FIT West Midlands’ business leaders talk about their hopes for the sector

DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk

14 BOUNCING BACK Cobra’s CEO on the company’s decline… and resurgence

18 FRONTLINE BQ reports from the UK’s first Health and Wealth Economic Summit

34 GOING GLOBAL The drive to generate business overseas

38 SELF SERVICE How the region’s healthcare cluster can exploit its potential

40 MIDAS TOUCH Prof Chris Hewitt discusses his new revenue-generating role

42 SAFETY FIRST A Hungarian duo have solved a growing healthcare problem

SHARING A BOLD VISION

SPECIAL REPORT:

THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEALTHCARE

WELCOME Understatement has long been a British trait, so perhaps it’s inevitable that those outside our healthcare industry know little about the remarkable achievements of the dedicated professionals, researchers and academics who work within it.

No wonder, given the enormous budgetary pressures under which they operate, that these individuals – and the teams which underpin their efforts – rarely have the time to engage a larger audience than patients and their families.

So it’s a pleasure to be able to tell the stories of some of the people who have given Birmingham, and the wider West Midlands, a global presence in life sciences and biotech.

It’s also impressive to see that collaboration, at all levels, has been the catalyst for both the sector’s remarkable growth and its array of innovations in treatments, technologies and data analysis. in association with

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PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com ADVERTISING Chancelle Blakey Business Development Manager e: chancelle@room501.co.uk t: 07786 070 772 Mike Moloney Business Development Manager e: mike@room501.co.uk t: 07801 849367 Audrey Atkinson Sales Manager e: audrey@room501.co.uk t: 0191 426 8205

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.bqlive.co.uk Business Quarter (BQ) is a leading business to business brand recognised for celebrating entrepreneurship and corporate success. The multi-platform brand currently reaches entrepreneurs and senior business executives across Scotland, The North East, Yorkshire and the West Midlands. BQ has established a UK wide regional approach to business engagement reaching a highly targeted audience of entrepreneurs and senior executives in high growth businesses both in-print, online and through branded events.

All contents copyright © 2015 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All company profiles are paid for advertising. All information is correct at time of going to print, February 2015.

room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

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BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

NEWS

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Partnership focuses on efficiency and innovation, new drive to help tackle obesity, care village will meet needs of an ageing population, scheme will re-think diabetes care, virtual hospital creates a buzz >> Introducing vitality The Birmingham office of Digital Life Sciences (DLS) has teamed up with the city’s first GP ‘super-practice’ to drive efficiency and innovation into its operations.

The Vitality Partnership, which operates 13 separate locations in Birmingham and Sandwell, has almost 250 staff and serves some 65,000 patients.

It was formed in 2009 to combine the advantages of small locally-based practices with the technological advances which can

be delivered by a larger organisation.

In 2014, Vitality formed a partnership with DLS, which had won almost £1m from the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund to pilot new ways of improving access to general practice.

Now it uses a central DLS-designed hub where patients can request medical advice which will be delivered by using their phone, going online, or via a special app.

Requests are responded to within one hour, and two-thirds of all patient requests are now dealt with remotely on the same

day. Since the digital service was introduced, Vitality reports a 70% reduction in missed appointments.

Two-thirds of all patient requests are now dealt with remotely on the same day

>> Investing in the region’s wellbeing Birmingham City University (BCU) is investing £20m in new facilities that promise a major contribution to the health and wellbeing of the West Midlands.

Training more professionals skilled in personal and public health is increasingly important in a region rated the second most obese in England. Public Health England figures last year revealed the West Midlands trailed only the North East for obesity levels, with 65.7 per cent of people classed as overweight, prompting calls for better diets, improved education and measures to encourage more exercise.

The expansion of the university’s campus in Edgbaston will feature specialist laboratories for a newly created School of Life Sciences, offering a range of courses in health, nutrition and biomedicine.

The move forms part of the university’s wider £10m investment in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects – ‘STEM’ skills that manufacturing leaders say are urgently needed to support economic growth.

The10,000sq m building will reinforce BCU’s status as the region’s largest provider of qualified health and social care professionals to the NHS and also provide a new home to its School of Education, supporting the development of the next generation of school teachers.

Professor Ian Blair, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences, said: “Birmingham City University is already the largest provider of health professionals in the region and the producer of more teachers than any other institution in the West Midlands.

“This move cements our place in supporting our crucial public services and also develops our capacity to play a role in improving nutrition and tackling modern epidemics such as obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.”

Building work at the campus will commence in early 2016, with the new facilities set to open to students in September 2017.

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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>> Revolutionary care village will meet the needs of an ageing population A revolutionary care village in Birmingham has moved one step closer to completion as work begins on an 80-bed nursing and dementia home.

The £5.3m home will form one of four buildings within the Bournville Care Village – one of the first in the UK to bring together different care elements within a purpose-built centre.

Work is already well under way on phase one of the build – a 212-bed, extra-care scheme, and work on the 35-bed housing apartment project for those with learning difficulties is expected to start early this year.

The development, which also includes a health and well-being centre, is expected to be completed by early 2016.

Ian Tipton, director at Bournville Architects, designers of the care village, said: “There are currently around 750,000 people living with dementia in England and Wales, with approximately 50,000 people likely to be placed in residential care because of a lack of suitable support in the home and the community.

“The vast majority of families caring for individuals who have been diagnosed with dementia aspire to keep them in their own home

>> New home for Biotest (UK) A hi-tech pharma business has become the latest tenant at the new Longbridge town centre being developed

by St Modwen.

Biotest (UK), which specialises in innovative haematology and immunology products, is a subsidiary of Biotest, a Germany-based global researcher and provider of plasma protein therapies that employs approximately

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wherever possible. Bournville Care Village has been designed to develop a sustainable community that meets the needs of an ageing population.”

Mr Tipton said the centre would provide first-class living accommodation which would make it easier for those with dementia to make the transition into supported living in a comfortable and secure environment.

He said: “Bournville Care Village needs to respond to a range of needs, from the relatively active and independent, through to those who need specialist care and support.

“The idea is to create a lifestyle-enhancing environment by encouraging social and active community participation through a range of activities and when the time comes the care will be there without having to move.”

Built on the a 3.75 hectare site which used to be the home of Bournville College, each building has been designed with environmental, social and economic sustainability in mind.

“The four care elements within the scheme are designed to create a sustainable community that will leave a lasting legacy in the Bournville Estate – built to the same principles of high quality and sustainability 100 years on from the original Garden Village,” said Mr Tipton.

2,000 people worldwide.

The company has relocated from Solihull and taken almost 3,800sq ft of space at the scheme’s Park Point building.

Managing director Marc Maltas said Biotest had operated in the UK for more than 30 years, and had NHS Hospital Trusts and several National Blood Services among its major customers.

“Our products are used in the treatment

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of life-threatening diseases, such as disorders of the immune and coagulation systems, as well as critically ill patients or those undergoing organ transplantation,” he said.

“Relocating to these larger modern premises aligns with our strategic growth plans for the coming years, as well as offering us an excellent location to host healthcare professionals and scientific experts from the UK and overseas.”

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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>> Creating a virtual buzz

>> Innovative approach could end animal testing Testing products on animals could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a Staffordshire-based laboratory. Dermal Technology Laboratory (DTL Ltd), founded and based on Keele University Science & Business Park, has been instrumental in the acceptance of alternatives to animal testing in North America.

Previously, products that come in contact with the skin needed to be tested on animals before they could go to market in North America, in order to measure how much is absorbed into the body.

However, scientists such as DTL chairman, Professor Jon Heylings, showed that using DTL’s in-vitro diffusion cells could provide the same results as with animals.

Heylings, who is also Professor of Toxicology at Keele University, said: “To be at the forefront of changing the way North America, and the rest of the world, tests its products, such as cosmetic and pharmaceutical ingredients before going to market, shows what can be done from within a supportive science environment like the one here at the park.

“We’ll be telling everyone what has been happening here in Staffordshire at international conferences this year, including the US Society of Toxicology meeting in San Diego, and ‘Incosmetics’ in Barcelona.”

The glass diffusion cell works as an alternative to animal testing by using a small disc of donated human skin. DTL can measure how much of the test chemical permeates into and through the skin over 24 hours.

The success of the skin diffusion cell, in providing an alternative to animal testing, led to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development asking Professor Heylings to represent the industry in a group which has published test guidelines for in-vitro dermal absorption testing since 2004.

Professor Heylings said: “When we set up our own business in 2007, we knew our status as an independent company would allow us to work with a number of organisations across the world without conflicting interests.

“This status, and the advantages of being located on this campus, has also allowed us to help influence policies across Europe and now North America that regulate the safety of chemicals.”

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Sandwell Council has launched the West Midlands Virtual Hospital (WMVH) to showcase the skills, knowledge and expertise of West Midlands’ companies in the UK and abroad.

The initiative has already generated significant buzz, with more than 400 companies expressing an interest in the digital directory, which will highlight their expertise, experience and capabilities in supplying critical products and services for the design, manufacture and operation of a 21st-century healthcare facility.

The WMVH is also designed to attract the attention of international businesses looking to find products and services, putting local businesses on the map and promoting their capabilities in delivering large infrastructure projects.

Jan Britton, CEO of Sandwell Council, said: “Our region is fortunate to have some of the UK’s brightest minds in clinical design, advanced manufacturing, built-environment, and medical and science technologies. “The West Midlands Virtual Hospital will create a visually appealing digital directory of our talented firms, which can be used by hospital and healthcare buyers across the world.”

Sandwell Council expects that the WMVH could translate into business opportunities for qualified firms.

It is hoped construction companies would use the tool to learn about the expertise in Sandwell and secure local talent, from building materials and fabrications through to interior furnishings, clinical equipment and medical technology.

>> Brainstorming for diabetes The West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) has launched a new programme which aims to radically change care for people in the region who have diabetes.

The ‘Making a difference to people with diabetes through medicines optimisation’ programme aims to bring together a community of like-minded people to share and spread ideas related to improving the lives of people in the West Midlands with diabetes.

The programme, which is supported by

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We are looking for people who want to think differently – and share ideas WMAHSN and Health Education West Midlands (HEWM), also benefits from joint working with Daiichi Sankyo UK Ltd, Eli Lilly and Company Ltd and Novo Nordisk Ltd. The programme was launched in January, when the first participants came together for a two-day workshop. They learned new ways of thinking about how to make a difference and planned how to work together to engage 500 people to make 1,000 ‘differences’ to people with diabetes. These can be anything from reducing carbohydrate intake to discovering a cure – and everything in between.

Lucy Chatwin, Head of Programmes at the WMAHSN, explained: “Seventeen trailblazers came to the first ever event, bringing passion and an open mind, ideas and a desire to make a difference. In a very short time, the group had come up with more than 170 proposals, large and small, which have the potential to make a real change to the lives of patients with diabetes.”

The event was just the first in a series that WMAHSN and HEWM are rolling out across the region, and there is an open invitation to join the programme.

Jenny Price, Head of Innovation at Health Education West Midlands, which is responsible for the education and training of health and public health workers across the region, said: “We are looking for people who want to think differently and make a difference for people with diabetes, and share and spread ideas in a growing group.

“The benefits of being involved include personal development, both inside and outside of work, increased personal productivity and improved effectiveness.

The programme allows groups taking part to renew their enthusiasm, unlock their potential and, together, celebrate successes

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and the differences they can make for diabetes patients.”

If you would like to get involved with the ‘Making a difference to people with diabetes’ programme, contact Lucy at lucy.chatwin@wmahsn.org or Jenny at jenny.price@wm.hee.nhs.uk.

>> The dealmakers The Birmingham office of lawyers Irwin Mitchell began 2015 in style by advising on two significant deals in the healthcare sector.

One saw the corporate team advise US-based SICO Health Analytics on its acquisition of a UK company, Data Intelligence, to extend its presence in the life sciences marketplace.

Irwin Mitchell senior associate, Rob Laugharne, said: “We are delighted to have advised on this transaction and expect to see and advise on an increasing number of cross-border transactions over the next year.”

The second deal saw Redditch-based pharmaceutical distributor and retailer,

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NEWS

Lexon (UK) Limited, acquire Norchem Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

The family-run business, which has a turnover of £150m and employs more than 400 members of staff, says the deal will both grow its retail operation, and expand its distribution network, which already includes automated warehouses in Redditch and Leeds.

Norchem, which is based in County Durham, was formed as a buying group in 1960 by six independent pharmacists, and now also has 20 retail outlets across the North-East. The deal was backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and RBS Invoice Finance in Birmingham.

Irwin Mitchell corporate partner, Nick Dawson (left), who advised Lexon on the deal, said the company was a great example of a successful family-run business with a clear vision, which was determined to grow and build its market share.

“It is already one of the leading pharmaceutical distributors in the UK and this acquisition will significantly boost its position,” he added.

We expect to advise on an increasing number of transactions >> £14m centre makes Sense National deafblind charity Sense has been given the go-ahead for a £14m community centre in Birmingham’s Selly Oak district. The Touchbase centre will provide services for both the disabled and the wider community. Due to open in 2016, the Glenn Howells-designed scheme will create about 130 jobs, and another 100 Sense staff will relocate there from elsewhere in the West Midlands.

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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Discover a diverse community and what makes EMQ a unique location Calthorpe Estates is home to Edgbaston Medical Quarter (EMQ), a growing healthcare community and cluster of medical and life science excellence It’s easy to see EMQ’s appeal, as both an investment destination and location for the medical and life sciences sector.

As Mark Lee, CEO of Calthorpe Estates, highlights the many healthcare-related ventures within Calthorpe’s historic 610 hectare estate, the surprise of a first-time observer is at the scale.

EMQ promotes collaboration and research, and brings together healthcare, academia and industry to support growth within 19 life science specialist clusters. It is currently home to some 180 medical organisations, 80 hospitals and specialist care centres, along with 44 GP clinics and routine care facilities and 23 training centre and boasts 64% of the region’s healthcare economy.

It’s a number which will continue to grow, as the BioHub attracts more tenants, and the Institute of Translational Medicine starts to come on stream this summer.

However, as Lee outlines EMQ’s growth, it’s intriguing to learn of the Calthorpe Estate’s wider offer which has created a community rather than simply a business quarter.

“I came on board six years ago as Chief Finance Director, then 2 years ago I took over as CEO following which we carried out a strategic review,” he recalls. “We looked at every aspect of the business, and although the conclusions were that pretty much everything was being done as it should, there were a couple of aspects which needed more strategic focus.

“One was the need to establish a premier mixed-use and leisure destination in the heart of Edgbaston, so we began with the vision of creating The Village, Edgbaston, a vibrant community with

It’s always been our aim to create the best place to live and work SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15 15 BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING

Plot 4, Pebble Mill, the last remaining plot with outline planning for 53,800sq ft healthcare facility

enhanced facilities for businesses and individuals living and working in the area. The Village, is moving along very nicely, and recent openings such as The High Field and The Edgbaston have set the benchmark for the standards we wish to deliver across the area. The second was to emphasise and build on the strength of the healthcare sector’s presence, and raise the profile of the EMQ brand.”

As intended, both elements are proceeding in tandem, and the ‘softer’ aspects of the Estate’s offer are clearly enhancing the EMQ’s evolution.

“It’s always been our aim to create the best place to live and work,” says Lee,” and you can see the immediate impact it has on people and organisations who are considering bringing their healthcare business here.

“It doesn’t matter where potential occupiers or investors come from, they very quickly buy into the whole area; the elegant homes, the highly sought after schools and educational establishments, the world class facilities such as Edgbaston Stadium and Edgbaston Priory Club, and you can see

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themselves almost starting to settle in, in their mind’s eye, before they’ve officially agreed to come here.”

Equally though, the catalyst for EMQ’s rapid evolution has been a carefully co-ordinated effort involving the Calthorpe Estates team, MedilinkWM, Birmingham City Council, Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP and a host of other organisations and individuals.

“It is very much about collaboration, and about seeing ourselves as part of the city council’s long-term economic vision to create employment opportunities and wealth, for the benefit of the city’s economy,” admits Lee. “We’re all pulling together, whether that is here, in the wider West Midlands, or in London, or overseas, to attract FDI (foreign direct investment) into Edgbaston and the City, and consequently working on raising the profile of EMQ to an international audience.

“People who hear our narrative, in January at the Arab Health exhibition in Dubai for example, are

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genuinely impressed not just by the scale of what has been achieved so far, but by the opportunities which lie ahead.”

The reputation of the healthcare research, and innovations in drugs, treatments and medical devices, which have come from Birmingham’s hospitals, universities and research institutes is a key element in presenting the EMQ overseas, as is the international presence of The Binding Site.

“Charles de Rohan and his people have such a tremendous reach with their products, and their reputation for innovation,” says Lee. “It really helps us to give a consistent and strong message overseas, that if you are in healthcare and life sciences, then you really should be here.”

Calthorpe Estates’ long-established understanding of the property market is another key driver for EMQ, especially Lee’s awareness that for the healthcare community, one size most definitely does not fit all.

“To be able to provide the right space, and in the right location, you have to understand the sector in depth, and again, collaborating with all our partners has given us a great deal of knowledge about what people in healthcare and life sciences need,” he says.

“We’ve got everything from incubator space and buildings for consulting rooms, to land and development opportunities of real scale because we realise that such a range of offer is critical.

We’re pleased when any customer arrives, but it has been really pleasing to see some of the major projects like Pebble Mill moving along.

“Circle have got plot 5, with permission for up to 150,000sq ft (13,935sq m) private hospital, so we’ll be waiting to see how they proceed with their first phase, and the £50m Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry on plots 2-3 is also progressing well and should be finished by Autumn 2015.

“Pebble Mill is going to be at the forefront of the growing life science and healthcare market in the UK, at which we only have plot 4 remaining which has outline planning permission for a 53,800sq ft (5,000sq m) healthcare facility. Whilst at Highfield Road, we’re looking for a occupier who wants over 28,000sq ft (2,601sq m) of striking Grade A office space or centre for clinical or medical uses, and we’ve already got a fair number of people interested.”

If two strands of EMQ are collaboration and an unparalleled blend of development opportunities, the third is the area’s connectivity; from either

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COMPANY PROFILE

Consulting rooms at 38 Harborne Road, one of the unparalleled blend of medical accommodation space

The High Field gastro pub, part of The Village, Edgbaston and an emerging retail and leisure community

the perspective of an overseas investor or a local employer.

“Finally having the runway extension at Birmingham Airport is vital for the city’s competitiveness, and direct services to the Far East, China, India and the West Coast of the US are real assets, as will be Grand Central and the new-look New Street Station when they open later in 2015,” says Lee. “There’s also the question of how connected we are with the City and it’s tremendous to see that Centro’s first ‘Sprint’ service will come down Hagley Road, and that there is now funding in place to extend the Metro to Edgbaston.

“For a long time, the city centre was moving in the other direction, but I think those transport

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improvements, along with the Paradise and Arena Central schemes, will start to take the centre towards the west and towards Edgbaston, which can only help the continued evolution of Edgbaston Medical Quarter and the Estate.”

Calthorpe Estates, 76 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8LU. T: 0121 248 7676 E: enquiry@calthorpe.co.uk www.calthorpe.co.uk

SPECIALQUARTER REPORT | SPRING 15 BUSINESS

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FIGHTING FIT AND READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD Ian Halstead talked to leading figures in the West Midlands’ business community about their hopes for the healthcare sector Given the scale of opportunities to create employment, and drive investment into the local economy, it’s understandable that Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP has made healthcare one of its major strategic targets.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve focused on those economic assets we believe are our most competitive,” says its deputy chairman, Steve Hollis.

“We aren’t short of assets, as a city or a region, but are looking to leverage those which can develop a reputation and presence at global level, and life sciences is certainly one.

“It’s not just about those in the front-line, it’s about real estate, infrastructure, support services and the whole supply chain.

“From a LEP perspective, healthcare is a sector where Greater Birmingham can excel, for the good of the region, the good of the country and most importantly of all, for the good of patients here and overseas.”

Hollis believes the Institute of Translational Medicine will be a global magnet for talent and innovation, making the nine-acre Life Sciences Campus and the BioHub very

attractive locations, and is bullish about the healthcare cluster’s prospects.

“It’s fantastic to see improvements in the city’s infrastructure, such as New St Station, but we also need big shiny buildings, as well as startup space, to attract healthcare and biotech companies,” he says. ”I’m sure inward investors will be impressed by what’s happening here, and our vision is that Greater Birmingham really can become the global equivalent of Silicon Valley for healthcare.

“I spent some time working in Bangalore, and it’s remarkable to see how it reinvented itself as an IT destination on a global scale.

All the big US companies were suddenly there in droves, and I think it’s perfectly feasible that the same can happen here for healthcare and biotech.”

Intellectual property (IP) rights specialist HGF is aslso feeling upbeat about the sector, and its Birmingham office has developed close links with the region’s biotech and healthcare communities since it opened in early 2013.

Office head and partner, Chris Moore – who completed his PhD at the University of

I’m sure inward investors will be impressed by what’s happening here – our vision is that Greater Birmingham really can become the global equivalent of Silicon Valley for healthcare SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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Birmingham – says much of the work carried out by himself and his team concerns new medical devices.

“We’re seeing a lot of great ideas and innovations coming forward in medical engineering, from both SMEs and start-ups, although they do face particular challenges because of the budgetary pressures which the NHS is under,” he says.

“It’s very difficult to calculate ‘cradle to grave’ costs for a new device or piece of kit, and if the initial cost per unit is higher, inventors do really struggle to persuade NHS procurement teams to consider it.

“It may be that their product will reduce staff costs, provide better test data and generate better patient outcomes, but the initial cost does create a hurdle for the purchasing people, and that’s a challenge which does need to be resolved.”

The HGF team, which is about to expand after a buoyant first two years, is closely involved with BioHub Birmingham and has been supporting the venture.

Moore says a series of IP surgeries are now planned at the fast-growing location, as tenants begin to sign up for space, and shares Hollis’s view that both the BioHub and the Life Sciences Campus will swiftly become destinations of choice for growing biotech and healthcare companies.

“The facilities are very impressive, as is the scale of the Edgbaston Medical Quarter (EMQ) itself,” he says. “The appeal of the cluster is very compelling, and I’m sure it will prove attractive to both tenants and investors.”

The quarter sits within the historic 610-hectare

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Left to right from top: Mark Lee, Steve Hollis, Chris Moore, Charles de Rohan and Karen Livingstone

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OVERVIEW

estate controlled by Calthorpe Estates, and is already home to some 180 medical organisations, 80 hospitals and specialist care centres, along with 44 GP clinics and routine care facilities and 23 training centres.

Calthorpe’s chief executive, Mark Lee, is convinced that the EMQ will continue its impressive growth, as the cluster attracts attention from the life sciences and biotech sectors, and from investors here and overseas.

He was in Dubai at the end of January, promoting the quarter and Calthorpe’s involvement in the sector at Arab Health; the largest healthcare exhibition and medical congress in the Middle East, and the second largest such event in the world.

“As you’d expect, everyone was clamouring to get attention for their schemes and proposals, so you had to offer something genuinely special to stand out, but even we were surprised by the level of positive feedback we received,” says Lee. “Even representatives from some of the big US-based healthcare companies were clearly impressed by the size and scale of the cluster which has evolved here in Birmingham, and also by the level of collaboration between the universities, the hospitals and the local authority.

“The detail we provided about Bio Hub, the Life Sciences Campus and the Institute of Translational Medicine was also well received, because it showed that the EMQ is going to evolve very rapidly into a cluster of genuine international importance.”

Lee points out that delegates at Arab Health were also keen to learn more about the city’s excellent connectivity via Birmingham Airport.

“The event was held in Dubai, one of the world’s greatest air hubs, so they know just how important such links are. Many medical clusters are in locations where connectivity is poor, Oxford and Cambridge for example,” he says.

“The runway extension means direct services now operate to the Far East and South-East, and of course the airport has a long-term relationship with Emirates, and both those elements will strengthen the EMQ’s appeal to both potential occupiers and overseas investors.”

One of the most high-profile companies >>

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based in the EMQ is Binding Site, which began corporate life as a spin-off from Birmingham University’s medical school in the early-80s, and has since become a global business employing some 630 people and with 2014 revenue of more than £70m.

It specialises in researching, developing, manufacturing and distributing innovative products. allowing clinicians and laboratory staff to dramatically improve diagnosis and management of patients with immune disorders and some cancers.

CEO Charles de Rohan says the company continues to invest significantly in both the University of Birmingham, and University Hospitals Birmingham, often by funding specialist research posts.

“A key area we concentrate on is into blood cancers (multiple myelomas), which are real killers and very difficult to diagnose. Advances made in technology to tackle them also have the potential to be utilised in other areas, including kidney disease and MS,” he says.

“We have some very talented people here, and we also like to be in control of as much of our supply chain and production as possible, everything right from the raw materials to packing everything for distribution.”

At the University of Warwick’s Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH), Professor Theo Arvanitis and his colleagues are working on innovative healthcare solutions, based on advanced digital technology.

Warwick Manufacturing Group, the NHS West Midlands and Warwick Medical School came together to form the IDH in 2010, and Theo is professor of e-health innovation and head of research at the Institute.

“We are looking at such conditions as obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, and probably the biggest challenge is to stimulate more collaboration between everyone, from public or private sector, who is involved in healthcare,” says Prof Arvanitis.

“We need to create an integrated ecosystem for healthcare and life sciences, to drive

We’ve taken a while to evolve our model and reach the current level, but now we’ve supported more than 100 companies. It’s a win-win for everyone “There’s a very good demographic here, and great access to a lot of knowledge and data, so we do a lot of collaborative work in that area of activity.”

Roughly two-thirds of Binding Site’s staff are based at the Edgbaston head office, and employee numbers rose by just over 100 during 2014, with more than 90% of the newcomers coming from the West Midlands.

However, a similar percentage of its products are sold overseas, allowing the company to acquire two Queen’s Awards for exports, whilst its focus on innovation saw it pick up a third for enterprise.

“All our R&D and manufacturing takes place in the UK and in 2014, we decided to consolidate all our research activities here in Birmingham,” says de Rohan.

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

more innovation forward for the benefit of patients, and for the health and wellbeing of the whole population.

“We capture and analyse biomedical data and information about diseases, then try to devise digital technologies for both the provision of care, and for further research and analysis.”

The IDH is based within an engineering department, so another element of its work is translating processes from other sectors to give them healthcare uses.

Both clinical evidence and data (clinical and open) is used by Prof Arvanitis and his colleagues to understand the intricate complexities of the diseases they are studying.

“The blend of skills and expertise we have here is unusual for the UK,” he says. “We

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have a truly multi-disciplinary team, including statisticians, clinicians, engineers and clinical researchers.

“We’re supporting and improving specific pathways for patients, but also looking at the overall delivery and quality of the NHS.” Another innovative approach to spread new technologies through the NHS is the Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare, better known as SBRI Healthcare.

It holds six-monthly ‘competitions’, allowing companies with innovative ideas targeted at a specific healthcare need, to put proposals forward in a bid to win grant support.

The programme operates country-wide through a network of representatives, who are based at each region’s Academic Health Science Network offices.

Among the West Midland companies to have won SBRI Healthcare funding are Warwickshire-based Just Checking which makes and installs home monitoring systems (featured on p34-35) and Shropshire-based Azure Indigo, which researches and develops projects to change people’s behaviour.

As SBRI Healthcare director, Karen Livingstone, explains her organisation’s business model, it’s clear that it’s been tailored to benefit the SMEs which typically apply for support.

Not least as each development contract between the successful company and the NHS is fully funded – rather than the more usual ‘match-funding’.

“We pride ourselves on being SME friendly, so we’re light on paper work and bureaucracy and the 100% funding is popular with SME’s.” says Livingstone.

“They can get up to £100,000 at the R&D stage, and up to £1m at the production stage.

“We also pay upfront, so we’d give you finance for the first three months, then when you’ve supplied all the data to prove you’ve done what you promised, we pay another three.

“We’ve taken a while to evolve our model and reach the current level, but now we’ve supported more than 100 companies.

“It’s a real win-win for everyone. The SMEs get new business, create jobs and become more sustainable, the NHS gets new technology-based solutions and the patients get better outcomes.” n

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OVERVIEW

AT THE FOREFRONT OF HEALTHCARE TRANSFORMATION Tony Davis, Commercial Director at the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) explains why NHS England says healthcare must change and how the region’s population and economy stand to benefit

“What is the role of the NHS? What do we, as members of the public, really want, need and expect from our health service? And what must we, as members of the healthcare industry, do to help meet these expectations?

“In 2014, NHS England set out its Five Year Forward View, calling for a more engaged relationship with patients, carers and citizens, in order to promote wellbeing and prevent ill-health.

“It set out the need for patients to be in far greater control of their own care and stressed the need for new partnerships with local communities, voluntary groups, local authorities and employers.

“In the future, far more care will be delivered locally, through primary care channels and specialist centres capable of supporting

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people with multiple health conditions.

“In short, healthcare must be delivered differently – preventing illness, promoting wellbeing and managing conditions in the community and in the home. Better, quicker and more personal.

“So what does this mean for the West Midlands? As an international centre for excellence, we have world class research facilities, a uniquely diverse population ideal for clinical research and an entire ecosystem of experts with some very important medical specialisms.

“These include personalised healthcare, which puts patients in control of their treatment, and precision medicines which can deliver targeted treatments for individual patients.

“In fact, there are three opportunities which have the potential to transform the region over the next few years.

“The creation of the West Midlands Genomics Medicine Centre will put our region at the forefront of a world-leading national genomics project designed initially to transform the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer and rare diseases. Over time, it is due to move on to other clinical areas.

“Through the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), the West Midlands region is the only UK healthcare region that is part of a €2billion European initiative called Health EIT which will seek to evaluate and apply innovations that promote healthy living

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and active ageing over the next six years.

“This is a great opportunity to deliver on the challenges in the NHS Five Year Forward View around prevention and wellbeing.

“The third opportunity for the West Midlands health economy lies within the AHSN’s key commitment to deliver a fully integrated digital health economy which includes electronic prescribing, electronic patient records, and digital health in its widest application.

“If we achieve this ambition, it will represent a major step change for healthcare in the West Midlands providing improvements in health and wealth for its population.

“At our inaugural Health and Wealth Economic Summit in Birmingham last year, George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences, launched our seven point growth plan.

“It set out how we will be making the West Midlands an internationally attractive arena in which to do business and discover tomorrow’s innovations, as well as making UK healthcare a sought after product overseas.

Now, it’s clear we have the tools to do this.

“People talk about regional powerhouses.

Well, the West Midlands is the UK’s healthcare dynamo. We have an enormous opportunity to improve our healthcare services, improve our society and improve our economy.

We no longer have to ask how much our healthcare costs – we need to reveal how much it contributes.”

The West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) is a partnership that brings together NHS commissioners and providers, academia, industry and many others. It is supporting the NHS in recognising and increasing its contribution to the nation’s economy. n You can read about the growth plan at www.wmahsn.org

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

INSIGHT

SPRING 15

COBRA BITES BACK AFTER TOUGH TIMES

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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Cobra Biologics was a biotech pioneer in the 1990s. It’s had a roller-coaster ride, but now it’s back with aspirations to return to the market.

Ian Halstead hears its story Cobra’s sprawling headquarters contain more microbiology experts per square metre than any place on earth, so visitors without at least a PhD in gene therapy are entitled to a moment’s apprehension at the intellectual rigours ahead.

However, such qualms dissolve into the chilly air hanging over Keele University’s science and business park, when CEO Peter Coleman (left) arrives with a firm handshake – and wellpracticed words of reassurance: ”I’m not a scientist.”

He is, though, a finance director by trade, so it’s with welcome precision and the absence of scientific jargon that Coleman explains Cobra’s long journey.

“The original business was set up in 1992 to develop products based on gene therapy, which is very different from traditional medicines which just tackle the symptoms.

Gene therapy cures whatever gene-related condition you have, and fundamentally changes the way your body operates,” he says.

“When it floated, it raised the largest amount of investment of any European company in its sector, around £30m, but gene therapy fell from favour. Now though, it’s back in fashion and we have a whole new raft of products.

“We manufacture products on a contract basis from DNA, protein or viruses. You can make these products in a test tube, but the real challenge is to make them in sufficient quantities for clinical trials.

You have to prove that the products are safe, effective and better than what has been produced before, so customers come to us to make more of what they need.”

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Cobra is now the grandaddy of Keele’s tenants; employing 75 at its original location, another 150 across two sites in Sweden, and with a sales team in the US. Its survival had looked far from assured as the 90s began to fade though, as its original product failed to develop as expected, leaving the management team with tough decisions.

However, it had assembled a talented manufacturing team, and a new regulatory framework allowed it to offer its services to others, taking the business in a new direction.

“We manufacture gene-based DNA products and our process can typically create between three and seven grams of DNA over six weeks, which is enough to treat several hundred people in a clinical trial,” says Coleman.

“We’ve had ups and downs, as you’d expect.

In 2003-2004 we were recognised as global leaders for DNA products, but then came the recession and the funding streams dried up.

A product costs around £200m to research, develop and test – and nine out of ten fail.

“Most of our clients are small and mediumsized one-product companies, so if they run into trouble, it hits us very hard. In 2008, the markets crashed, and our funding ‘tap’ was just turned off. We were very close to being bankrupt, but managed to survive.”

Cobra had floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2002, when Coleman was the finance director, and attracted several major institutional investors.

However, as the global crash deepened during 2009, it became clear that the company could no longer continue to trade independently.

“We were bought in that December, just as the banks were about to shut our door, by a Swedish owner, which gave us access to the facilities of his company (Recipharm), so we now operate from here, Stockholm and a third site 400 miles further north,” says Coleman.

Much has changed in the last five years, not least Cobra’s customer base. Then, it was dominated by companies from Northern and Western Europe, but now they are as far apart as Israel and South America, and its most recent came from Iceland.

Cobra also became independent once more, after finding it challenging to operate as the smaller subsidiary of a large company, and Recipharm spun the business off in 2011.

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In 2003-2004 we were global leaders for DNA products, but then came the recession That year saw sales of just £2.5m, but in 2014, they were £16m, which Coleman attributes to several influences.

He says: “I brought back our previous operations director, we rebranded the company, worked hard at getting the sales team re-engaged and also tried to develop a more entrepreneurial mind-set.”

However, throughout the ups and downs, Cobra has remained at its original home.

“We have thought of relocating many times, but one issue is that the UK doesn’t have a sizeable bio-hub. It would also cost anywhere between £30m and £50m to replicate what we have here at Keele,” admits Coleman.

“What lies ahead now? We’d like to get to a position where we could look for a listing, but you obviously have to be comfortable about forecasting your numbers. It’s an aspiration

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INSIGHT

of mine to float.” The most notable strategic change came in 2014, with the spin-out of a business called Prokarium, which is looking to develop the best platform for oral delivery of protein vaccines.

“The distinction between us is that we manufacture products for companies who retain their IP rights, but Prokarium is that kind-of company,” explains Coleman.

Prokarium’s model is based on its synthetic biology platform, Vaxonella, which will make vaccines more accessible to people in rural and resource-poor areas.

Chief scientific officer, Dr Rocky Cranenburgh (left), manages its scientific programmes, including the development of its vaccine candidates and genetic technologies.

“Essentially, what we do is genetic engineering,” he says. “Our focus is to develop a vaccine pill, so people can be treated simply, and there is no requirement for healthcare professionals to carry out the procedure.

“We worked with a US firm in 2012, which was using a genetically modified typhoid vaccine. We applied some of our genetic engineering to their vaccine, which has since gone successfully through eight clinical trials.

The strain we acquired grows well, and we own the patents surrounding that strain.

“People have been using the salmonella virus as a method of vaccine delivery, but only we are using it as a platform for delivery.”

Prokarium’s first target is travellers’ diarrhoea, which makes adults suffer pain, but can be fatal to children, and its vaccine designed to combat that illness enters phase one of its clinical trials this summer.

Cranenburgh says it will take years of testing, trialling and fine-tuning to get the product to market, and he’s expecting a launch in 2022.

“Our second product, which is at the research stage, is designed to tackle the C.Diff superbug, and we’re developing that in collaboration with a big pharma company, and our third product, which is at the very early stages, would tackle chlamydia.”

Prokarium is already talking to venture capital providers, as it will likely require several million pounds by 2016-2017, and could also look to generate revenue by taking on service contracts to develop vaccines for pharma companies. n

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

COMPANY PROFILE

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Binding Site goes global - but stays local Binding Site has stayed in its home city for some 30 years, acquiring a global reputation for innovation, collaboration with its customers and a cabinet full of awards It’s partly down to the British trait for self-deprecation, but it’s been said for decades that bright ideas from this country often end up abroad.

So it’s both pleasing and reassuring to stroll along Birmingham’s Calthorpe Road, and to discover the imposing headquarters of Binding Site at the leafy heart of the Edgbaston Medical Quarter.

It specialises in researching, developing, manufacturing and distributing innovative products which allow clinicians and laboratory staff to dramatically improve diagnosis and management of patients suffering from immune disorders and cancers.

Binding Site has stayed in its home city for some 30 years, acquiring a global reputation for innovation, collaboration with its customers and a cabinet full of awards along the way. Equally impressively - especially as politicians and business leaders talk much about the need to base economic recovery on exports - CEO Charles de Rohan says the company sells around 90% of its products in overseas markets each year.

Binding Site was a spin-off from Birmingham University’s medical school, when founder Jo Bradwell and a small team worked on the development of antibodies. Over the years, the business has regularly outgrown its premises, moving from the university’s science park, to an old motorbike factory in Dale Road, and then into Warstock Road, before finally reaching its present home.

Along the way, Binding Site has become a global business, presently employing some 630 people and with 2014 revenue of just over £71m - up an impressive 12% on the previous trading period.

Such a figure would be impressive as a one-off in the present uncertain economic environment, but the business has become accustomed to achieving double-digit growth year-on-year. De Rohan attributes the sales rise to three main factors;

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

Charles de Rohan – CEO The Binding Site

on-going geographical expansion, an enhanced product range and a rise in instrument sales to laboratories. to laboratories.

He says a core strategic focus is on a particular blood cancer - known to the healthcare community as Multiple Myeloma - which is arevery verydifficult difficulttoto diagnose. “There’s a very good demographic here, and great access to a lot of knowledge and data, so we do a lot of collaborative work in that area of activity,” he says.

Roughly two-thirds of Binding Site’s staff are based at Edgbaston, and 2014 recruits totalled just over 100, with more than 90% of the newcomers coming from the West Midlands.

“We work in a highly specialised industry, and well

understand the importance of investing in the knowledge and skills of our employees,” admits de Rohan.

“We endeavour to make sure that they receive the necessary training to fully meet the demanding requirements of their roles, so they can continue to support the company in its long-term vision to lead the way in specialised medical diagnostics. ”We have some very talented people here, and we are determined to offer them career development opportunities wherever possible which make them want to stay with us.”

Many UK-based manufacturers in all sectors have decided to outsource production overseas to low-cost locations, and still do, despite the welcome trend for reshoring. However, Binding Site has no truck with such strategies, and all its R&D programme and manufacturing still take place in the UK. “During 2014, we decided to consolidate all our research activities in Birmingham,” says de Rohan. “We thought that bringing all our R&D to a single site would make best use of our significant development capabilities and better service the needs of our customers.

“Our initial assessment of the benefits of the consolidation shows that we have created a wealth of new products which are now becoming available. available. becoming “We also like to be in control of as much of our supply chain and production as possible, everything right from the raw materials to packing everything for distribution. for distribution.

“We have around 3,000 customers around the world, so the timing of shipments needs to be carefully and precisely monitored, and we feel happier when it’s in-house.

Binding Binding Site Site has has become become aa global global business, business, presently presently employing employing some some 630 people and with 2014 revenue of just over £71m 630 people and with 2014 revenue of just over £71m

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COMPANY PROFILE

The Binding Site’s Catthorpe Calthorpe Road Birmingham HQ

”Some raw materials have to be brought in from overseas, because they aren’t available in this country, but we have roughly 540 suppliers, and almost 90% are based in the UK.” Perhaps surprisingly, given Binding Site’s commercial reach and high-profile, de Rohan says it still has around 70 suppliers based in Birmingham, spending over £2.4m in the Birmingham area each year.

However, the most remarkable of the many impressive statistics relating to its success is surely its 90% overseas sales figure, which during 2014 was achieved by the shipping of just over 600,000 units for sale in 88 countries.

Over the years, the business has picked up two Queen’s Awards for exports, and another for enterprise, along with a host of accolades from the healthcare industry, for the quality and innovative nature of its product range.

As de Rohan stresses though, diagnostics isn’t all about identifying which new drugs and

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treatments can be proven to make a positive impact on patient outcomes.

“If you can help to identify which drugs are going going to fail,toand fail, to make that judgement earlier in the and to make that development or trial judgement phases, earlier then that’s in thealso a development huge benefit. or Likewise trial phases, identifying then athat’s patient alsothat a huge is no longer benefit,responding especially to during an expensive a time when therapy the NHSshould and and other be changed health services to a different are under regimen, huge pressures to especially during deliver a time morewhen for less,” the NHS he says. and other There certainly health services aren’t are under any huge laurels pressures in sight to in deliver the Binding more forSite less,” boardroom he says. either.

“We have There certainly a constant aren’tdesire any laurels to improve in sight as ain the company,Site Binding to expand boardroom our either. knowledge base, and t o work “We have closely a constant with key desire opinion-leaders to improve astoashare and develop company, to new expand ideas, ourand knowledge to deliver base, and innovative to work closely medical withsolutions Key Opinion to our Leaders customers,” to says deand share Rohan. develop new ideas, and to deliver “We are alsomedical innovative confident solutions that 2015 to our willcustomers,” be an incredibly says de Rohan. exciting time for the business. In April we will “We arebe also holding confident our largest-ever that 2015 will international be an symposium, incredibly exciting creating time a forum for the atbusiness. which Opinion In April

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we will be Leaders from holding around ourthe largest-ever globe will international meet together with laboratory symposium, creating and clinical a forumexperts at which to Opinion present and discuss Leaders fromthe around manythe exciting globedevelopments will meet together in Myeloma with laboratory diagnosis andand clinical beyond experts to present “During and discuss thisthe yearmany we will exciting also be developments announcing in many newdiagnosis Myeloma product releases and beyond which will emphasise our unswerving “During this yearcommitment we will also to besatisfying announcing the needsnew many of our product customers, releases andwhich to maintaining will emphasise our focus our unswerving on long-term commitment investment to -satisfying in the business the and itsofpeople.” needs our customers, and to maintaining our focus on long-term investment - in the business and its people.”

T: 0121 456 9500 E: charles.derohan@bindingsite.co.uk CalthorpeRoad, Road,Birmingham, Birmingham,B15 B151QT 1QT 8 Caltorpe

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

SUMMIT

SPRING 15

ECONOMIC SUMMIT SETS GROWTH AGENDA The debate about the growth of the healthcare sector in the West Midlands was ignited at the end of 2014, when Birmingham hosted the UK’s first Health and Wealth Economic Summit More than 200 delegates gathered at the NEC and University Hospitals Birmingham to discuss and debate the challenges and opportunities for the healthcare sector as key drivers for wealth creation and economic growth in the West Midlands – tackling thorny issues including NHS collaboration and regional investment and promotion.

These longstanding issues were given an open and honest airing, as politicians, clinicians, commissioners, academics, LEPs and industry sat side by side to discuss how services, attitudes and relationships must change over the next five years.

Invited by the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN), the two day summit featured a diverse line-up of speakers, selected for their expertise, influence and opinions. On the first day at the NEC, topics centred on innovation, investment and productivity, while day two reached out to EU funding, working with LEPs and job creation.

WMAHSN’s commercial director Tony Davis commented: “It’s clear that our country needs a 21st century healthcare system, which will stimulate the next generation of science and healthcare jobs.

“We have a unique opportunity in the West Midlands to ensure these jobs are created here, and that our population benefits from the most progressive care and treatments.

This summit was a chance for us all to ask some hard questions. Can we overcome the

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

obstacles? Who can drive it forward? And can ingrained opinions and attitudes within the science and healthcare sector change fast enough? As the regional academic health science network, we have heard at the summit how vital our role is in answering these questions.”

That role was highlighted by George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences, who set out just how much was needed from government and from grass roots to nurture a 21st century healthcare system and culture. Outlining the support available from the Department for Health (DH) and Department for Business Innovations and Skills (BIS) and the remit of the AHSNs to improve population health and generate economic growth, he emphasised that this commitment to healthcare, not just pharma, stems from the very centre of government.

Freeman officially launched the WMAHSN’s seven point growth plan, which addresses the direct and indirect links between health and wealth. He commended the WMAHSN’s commitment to work to ensure that the region is viewed as a centre of healthcare excellence which can attract investment and research, develop a highly skilled and productive workforce and transform healthcare procurement.

These were themes that gathered momentum throughout the first day of the summit.

Professor Theo Arvanitis, of the University

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SUMMIT SPEAKERS George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences Andy Hardy, Chief Executive, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Frances Pennell-Buck, Sector Specialist, Healthcare and Medical Technology, UK Trade and Investment Neil Mortimer, Head of Programmes, WMAHSN Tony Davis, Commercial Director, WMAHSN Mark Ebbens, Partner, GE Healthcare Finnamore Ian Smith, Senior Partnership Manager, Department for Work and Pensions Professor Theo Arvantis, Professor of e-Health Innovation, University of Warwick Lucy Chatwin, Head of Programmes, WMAHSN Karen Livingstone, Director of Partnerships and Industry Engagement at Eastern AHSN and National Director, Small Business Research Initiative Susan Randall, Director, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Jacqui Smith, Chair, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust Mandy Shanahan, Director of Workforce, Health Education West Midlands David Taylor, Head of Regeneration, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust Richard Stone, Operations Director, Medilink West Midlands Katie Trout, Executive Manager, Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP Michael Wood, Senior European Policy Manager, NHS European Office Lloyd Broad, Head of European and International Affairs, Birmingham City Council Paddie Murphy, Director and Founder, PL Murphy Consultancy Services Pam Waddell, Director, Birmingham Science City Helen Oliver, Head of Joint LEP Programme, Care City Lorna Green, Commercial Director, North West Coast AHSN

of Warwick’s Institute of Digital Healthcare, revealed details of collaborative projects with Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which embody healthcare excellence, using big data, organising trials in a better way and utilising everyday technologies and devices. He explained: “We have worked with Birmingham Children’s Hospital to take a

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Neil Mortimer (right) leads the discussion

SUMMIT

Tony Davis

Dr Christopher Parker CBE

data driven approach to childhood cancer and used an off-the-shelf games system to measure respiratory motion. There can, and should be, more of this in the West Midlands.”

The role of the West Midlands as a centre of healthcare excellence was a popular topic in the afternoon workshops, as Neil Mortimer from the WMAHSN led a group which was vocal in its desire for a platform to promote the region. When asked what the West Midlands has to offer the global healthcare market, there was a passionate response.

A diversity of population should position the West Midlands as the place to do clinical trials, when combined with the specialist clinical trials unit at the forthcoming Institute of Translational Medicine and the excellent educational institutions across the region.

A unique ecosystem of healthcare services, research and a diverse industry base – filled with people who can do just about anything, and high profile success stories like the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Royal

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Centre for Defence Medicine. Prompted to suggest next steps, the need for a strong positioning statement was seen as important, and many looked to the WMAHSN to provide a good platform for promotion.

In an eye-opening presentation by Mark Ebbens, a Partner at GE Healthcare Finnamore, delegates witnessed a way for NHS hospitals to plan for the future, test capacity and staffing levels in extreme situations, trial changes to processes and services and optimise their productivity, using simulation. Ebbens revealed a whole system hospital model, complete with complex shift patterns, surges in demand and crises. Improving productivity was also the subject of a presentation by Ian Smith from the Department of Work and Pensions. He focused on the need to be digital by default, and used the digital job centres as an example of how even traditional public services could be transformed in order to save money, improve services for the public and reduce delays caused by paperwork.

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In the afternoon workshop led by WMAHSN’s managing director Dr Christopher Parker CBE, delegates supported this view, highlighting that in the financial services industry there had been a staff culture that was considered resistant to change and insecure due to technical innovation, but it had been transformed to recognise the opportunities that technology can bring to customers. But communication across the NHS was seen as the major barrier to enhancing productivity.

It was felt that there was still a clear need for better partnership working between health and social care, primary and secondary care, and budgets are often siloed, preventing collaboration. The AHSN’s ‘push and pull’ model was highlighted as a solution, but many called for training to help staff manage cultural and behavioural change.

Bill Gowans, Vice Chair of the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, took an active part in the workshop, before joining the Stakeholder Perspective Panel later in the >>

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SUMMIT

SPRING 15

afternoon to take questions from delegates.

His view on how to ensure the NHS adopts innovation to enhance productivity was clear: “The future Fit programme to redevelop our hospital services in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin depends on productivity and efficiency over the next twenty years. The work of the WMAHSN will help us facilitate this. More and more, we need to risk-share with innovative businesses and engage in partnership for many years. Enduring relationships, where people become co-responsible for the long-term, are what we’re looking for.”

The belief that the NHS could be an ‘Intelligent Customer’ was raised by many over the course of the summit. Working in partnership, embracing innovation and generating science and healthcare jobs all require the NHS to change their risk-averse procurement cultures.

WMAHSN’s Lucy Chatwin presented insights into how each healthcare organisation has the potential to be an Intelligent Customer – one which is able to understand the technical details of services being provided by each supplier in order to ensure the specification and delivery of the services are accurate, and to check that the solutions are meeting the needs of patients.

This highlighted the need for the NHS to adopt best practice principles in its procurement, as revealed by Susan Randall from the Chartered Institute of Procurement Specialists, who claimed a procurement specialist should be a channel for investment. She called for more contracts that flex and allow for bolt-ons, so they enable rather than stifle innovation. Her statistic that 46% of the opportunity is still on the table at the point of signing the contract shocked both industry and NHS professionals.

This was also reflected in the panel debate, in which Simon Adams, Chief Operating

Lucy Chatwin

Officer for Healthwatch Worcestershire, took questions from delegates. He commented: “The panel debate at the economic summit was an excellent opportunity to bring the public and private sectors together to discuss the provision of healthcare in our region. There was real consensus that healthcare services should be patient-focused, and as such will need to change. This will require collaboration, which will lead to innovation and growth.”

The Stakeholder Perspective Panel was chaired

by Professor Michael Sheppard, and included Andy Taylor from the Association of British Healthcare Industries, Steve Arnold from

There are so many things to be proud about in the NHS, but we have also created a real asset for research and wealth development. There are not many countries that can bring together patient and treatment data in one place SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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Susan Randall

pharma company UCB, Dr Pam Waddell from Birmingham Science City and Jennifer Jones Rigby from Health Exchange, as well as Mark Ebbens, Simon Adams and Dr Bill Gowans.

They covered the opportunities to embrace social media, different approaches to risksharing and clinical trials, but when asked for ideas as to how the NHS, universities and business can benefit patients through working together across the West Midlands, the panel were in agreement. Bill Gowans called for the WMAHSN to be an effective dating and translation agency, and observed that academia brings in evidence, industry brings in solutions, but the NHS only brings needs. He admitted that it’s often stunningly hard, where there are three different cultures and languages at play. Jennifer Jones Rigby supported this view and appealed for more honest discussions between organisations around shared IP. Dr Pam Waddell summarised the discussion by asking everyone to think of patients as taxpayers, not just users of the system, who also want to see improvements in the services that they pay for.

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As the summit moved location to the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), the tone changed significantly, with less focus on the challenges and more emphasis on the opportunities. In her opening speech, the Chair of UHB, Jacqui Smith, began: “There are so many things to be proud about in the NHS, but we have also created a real asset for research and wealth development. There are not many countries that can bring together patient and treatment data in one place as we have the potential to do in the NHS. It is also, of course, a real economic opportunity for the UK: high quality, high value jobs and economic growth potential. And we’ve got a real chance to grow this work.”

Examples of ways West Midlands organisations were growing this work permeated this second day of the summit. UHB’s David Taylor spoke enthusiastically about the Learning Hub, which is helping young homeless people become apprentices with pre-apprenticeship training, and how their partnership with Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust was providing their students with apprenticeships.

Paddie Murphy from PL Consultancy Services and Dr Pam Waddell from Birmingham Science City took to the stage together to describe the Europe-wide network they had built during the bid process for a European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), which explored healthy living and active ageing.

Funding for projects like these remains the sticking point, so Katie Trout from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, Lloyd Broad from Birmingham City Council and Michael Wood from the NHS European Office all presented opportunities to tap into government and European funding. By working in partnership with other public services or organisations, the NHS could access resources from more diverse springs, including the EU Structural Funds Programme.

To see what the West Midlands could achieve in this way, delegates heard from pioneers of national projects including Care City, a groundbreaking research, education and training and innovation site based in Barking. Helen Oliver, the Head of the Joint LEP Programme for Care City, explained how the project will help deliver

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better outcomes for local people and act as a catalyst for regenerating one of London’s most deprived regions. Looking at ways in which the project will use innovation to deliver integrated health and social care services, delegates learned how they could bring health and social care professionals together with researchers, education providers, technology experts, small and medium companies and social entrepreneurs to create a community project that provides local employment, research and excellent patient care.

Inspired by so many success stories, delegates began to question whether the vision for integrated healthcare in the region was visionary enough. This was highlighted during the panel discussion, which was chaired by Michael Wood. Experts Kevin Richardson from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, David Taylor from UHB, Lloyd Broad from Birmingham City Council, Sue Dunkerton from the Knowledge Transfer Network and Mandy Shanahan from Health Education West Midlands acknowledged the need for speedy and dramatic change. Kevin Richardson pointed out an important and subtle change

Michael Wood chairing the panel

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in the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF), where they abolished the word ‘programme’ and substituted ‘operation’.

He described collections of activities intended to work and feed off each other, so people are bundling up projects and working across the city in one big operation. David Taylor supported this by asking for it to be done in a way that hits everyone’s agenda.

And finding areas for commonality on everyone’s agenda is what the summit tried to achieve. It will be a primary focus for the WMASHN as it begins work on its growth plan and builds its network and influence.

WMAHSN’s Tony Davis summarised: “Over the course of this summit, we were able to demonstrate how the growth plan can work to make a positive impact on the local economy.

Feedback from delegates shows that there is a story to tell, and that it is the job of the WMAHSN to tell it. By clearly setting out what we will do to lay the foundations for more visionary collaborations and partnerships, we can ensure that the region benefits, not just in terms of improved healthcare, but economically too.” n

Tony Davis

Sue Dunkerton on the panel

Dr Pam Waddell

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SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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SPRING 15

The BioHub brings ‘plug and play’ concept to Birmingham The BioHub Birmingham is the first of its kind in the UK. Ian Halstead discovers more about the pioneering project looking to strengthen and grow the city’s healthcare economy SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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The concept of ‘plug and play’ space is catching on fast in the US biotech sector, and it’s easy to see why it’s being hailed as the perfect way to drive innovations into the global healthcare sector.

Offering start-up ventures access to affordable wet-lab space and advanced research equipment, alongside business support services, gives biotech entrepreneurs everything they need to transform their bright ideas into solid commercial reality.

So far though, the approach has been slow to catch on this side of the Atlantic, giving Birmingham Research Park a great chance to steal a competitive advantage with its Biomedical Innovation Hub - better known as The BioHub. The park’s CEO, James Wilkie, says the £7 million project represents the first purpose-built ‘plug and play’ incubator scheme in the UK, which dovetails perfectly into his long-term strategic vision for the location.

“I came here in 2007, began looking at the tenant base, and was intrigued to discover that although they were all in the medical sector in one form or another, there were no early-stage entrepreneurs,” he recalls.

“They were all perfectly profitable companies, but very much in the later growth phase. If you looked around the area, the scale of the medical cluster was also very impressive, but it was clear that we needed to do something to attract start-up ventures, and providing shared space and facilities seemed the logical route.

“It was commonplace to offer such space in the digital sector, but no-one had done it for life sciences, so we drew up a business case for what has now become The BioHub, and put that vision to the city council and the university - who had set up the park as a joint venture back in 1986. ”Everyone really bought into the concept, especially Sir Albert Bore, who at the time chaired the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust and is now, of course, leader of the city council.

“We managed to win support from the council, the university and the European Regional Development Fund, and pulled together the £7 million we calculated was needed to design, develop and then fit-out The BioHub.” The facilities are undeniably impressive, even on first glance.

There’s 4,500 sq ft of biomedical laboratory space to be shared by tenants, featuring two specialist microbiology rooms, a microscopy lab, specialist

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cleaning and sterilisation equipment, a cryogenic suite to house liquid nitrogen, and the capability to freeze items at -150°C. “Samples of human tissue often need to be kept for years, so it’s important to provide access to cryogenic storage and everything has back-up facilities, in the unlikely event of a power cut or other problem,”says Wilkie.

“You always hear people say that their centre is the best, but The BioHub really is a landmark development for this country. Even if you looked across the whole of the United States, you’d only discover five or six places which can provide anywhere near this level of facilities and support.

“We’ve already started talking to a couple of the US schemes, and we’re hoping to set up a reciprocal relationship with at least one during 2015, so researchers and entrepreneurs from here can interact with their opposite numbers from there which will benefit everyone.”

More usual facilities are on offer too; shared state-of-the-art bench space, office desks and hi-speed broadband - as would be expected along with the business advice and guidance which will be critical as ideas move from the innovation and research phases to become market-ready commercial products.

“We’ve got a great deal of pro-bono support from the city’s professional services sector, as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies, which is a central element of what we’re all trying to do here,” says Wilkie.

“When you’re really focused on turning an idea into something tangible, and also at the very early stage of setting up and running a business, it can be hard to step back and look at everything, so having experienced professionals to come in and mentor you can make all the difference.”

Even before its opening in December 2014, The

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COMPANY PROFILE

BioHub team were already in advanced talks with potential tenants, and two have since signed up for space, both with a pleasingly international flavour, although polar opposites in terms of size and scale.

Lab equipment specialist Sartorius-Stedim is a French-headquartered quoted plc, employing some 3,300 people worldwide, and with annual revenue of around 600m NanoTi is a Budapestbased start-up, specialising in treatments to prevent bacteria developing following the fitting of titanium dental or orthopaedic implants.

“We’re expecting interest from a variety of sources,” admits Wilkie. “I’m sure some consultants from University Hospital Birmingham will be interested, not least because we’re almost on their doorstep, and from other hospitals too.

“I think people who just have ideas about biotech will come to see the facilities, and discover what The BioHub could do for them. In some cases, like Sartorius-Stedim, I’d expect space to be taken by large European players who want a presence here, because they recognise what the city’s medical cluster has to offer.

“There will also be a range of sizes, from start-ups employing just one or two people, to more mature businesses with workforces of up to 20.

We designed the space to be as flexible as possible, and as The BioHub message is being so well received, I’d like us to be at 50% occupancy by early 2016.

“Looking a little further ahead, I’d like the centre to be full in two to three years, which is of course what we need to ensure it’s a commercially viable venture.”

The BioHub is also at the heart of the Edgbaston Medical Quarter, offering tenants easy access to a wider community of healthcare professionals; including clinical academics at the University of

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Birmingham, consultants and researchers at the QE hospital, and an array of companies in the life sciences sector.

“We are very much trying to create a community feel; at The BioHub, elsewhere on the park and throughout the healthcare cluster,” says Wilkie.

“When you’re at the start-up stage and new to the concept of entrepreneurship, as opposed to research in a pure academic setting, you need support, but you also need on occasions to simply talk to other people about something different.

“Those conversations may simply offer a brief distraction from the intensity of your work, but they might also stimulate you to look at something in a different way, so creating a community here is just as important as building the right kind of space and installing the right kind of equipment.”

For further information contact, Helen Miller-Viney, Business Development Manager, The BioHub Birmingham, 0121 414 9252, H.Miller-Viney@bham.ac.uk

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

INTERVIEW

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UoB professor, Charlie Craddock

A VISION ON A GRAND SCALE Birmingham will soon be home to one of the world’s most sophisticated centres for healthcare research, clinical innovation and training – the Instutite of Translational Medicine (ITM). Ian Halstead talked to two of its founding fathers

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

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There’s nothing much to note about the towering facade of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s old North Block… unless you’re a devotee of Art Deco.

Inside though, it’s undergoing a renaissance to become an internationally-noted location where clinicians, researchers and industry come together to cure diseases, save lives and train healthcare workers of the future.

Birmingham’s best-known architect, Glenn Howells, is leading the physical transformation, and the ITM project is being delivered by Birmingham Health Partners.

The latter is a collaboration between University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Birmingham (UoB) and Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The ITM’s multi-disciplinary structure will allow new treatments and drugs to move efficiently from the discovery phase, through development, clinical trials and advanced studies, then on to patients throughout the UK and across the globe.

It’s a vision on a grand scale, and the centre is predicted to create more than 2,000 jobs longterm via clinical trials and diagnostics, and in life sciences through spin-outs, expansion of current ventures and inward investment.

UoB Professor David Adams, a director of Birmingham Health Partners, explains: “The catalyst was that although we have great research programmes, tremendous people, real expertise in clinical trials, and fantastic access to a very diverse population, we lacked the infrastructure to bring everything together to drive innovations forward,” he admits.

“Getting money from the City Deal was tremendous, because we got £12m to match our other funding, and the original idea was to put up a new building, but then the QE moved out of the North Block.

“There will be a clinical research unit on the ground-floor, which will be a fantastic facility, and when you enter the main door, there will be a lecture room, a social area and a coffee bar, so it’ll be a great place to interact.

“On the fifth floor, there’ll be a laboratory to deliver innovative forms of precision medicine, which will be a very important element.

There’ll also be lots of space for doctors, nurses, scientists, statisticians and the clinical

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UoB Professor, David Adams

trials people to collaborate. “Their presence will enable us to take full advantage of the tremendous work done by Daniel Ray and the informatics team at UHB, so we’ll be accessing data virtually in real-time.”

The ITM will also include space for commercial partners and incubator units for start-ups, generating a sustainable income stream to help fund its operations.

Prof Adams expects some tenants to set up their own projects, whilst others will take space for trials or studies relating to other projects based in the building.

No decision has yet been made on who will head the institute, but an interim director is in place, and a permanent appointment is likely to be made before the phased opening programme begins in the summer.

The ITM’s model – of winning public sector finance to create a centre bringing scientists, doctors and researchers together – came from another UoB professor, Charlie Craddock.

He is the founding director of Birmingham’s Centre for Clinical Haematology, which has earned a global reputation for developing and delivering novel drug and transplant therapies, and also hosts one of the UK’s largest stem cell transplant programmes.

Prof Craddock says: “Birmingham has long been a crucible of creativity, but we are now seeing a healthcare cluster evolving on an international scale – it’s very special.

“Since the discovery of the structure of DNA, trillions of pounds have been invested in

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laboratory-based research, and we have gained a profound understanding of what can go wrong in a body, because of cancer, strokes, cardio-vascular diseases and other conditions.

“However, there was very little progress in identifying treatment options until the last 10 or 15 years, and very little improvement in patient outcomes. Now though, the big pharma and biotech companies are starting to use all this data to create a huge pipeline of new drugs and treatments.

“The urgent priority now is to discover if these innovations are safe, clinically effective and capable of being produced in scale, otherwise they will just sit on doctors’ shelves for years.

At the moment though, we are very slow at identifying if these drugs and treatments are safe, reliable and useful.”

Prof Craddock believes Birmingham is uniquely placed to dramatically speed up that critical process, and it’s not a word he uses lightly.

“One of the game-changers is a very large and diverse population, so you could recruit at least 50 patients a year for clinical trials. There are six million people within an hour’s drive,

INTERVIEW

so there’s great access and also tremendous ethnic diversity,” he says.

“There’s no merit in developing drugs which work for Caucasians, but not for Indians, and that diversity isn’t found elsewhere. If the pharma and biotech companies go to small cities they can’t find enough patients for trials.

“Birmingham also has fantastically good hospitals, and a wonderful skills-base, to carry out these trials and analyse the data. Best of all, everything is all spread across one location and connectivity is easy.

“When I came here in 1999, having worked in Seattle and London, it was because I could see it was going to be an enormously exciting time for translational medicine, and I genuinely do not think there is a better place in the world for the ITM to be.”

The Centre for Clinical Haematology received seed-corn funding of £2m from Advantage West Midlands, and over the last decade, Prof Craddock calculates it has received £25m of drugs for free from the pharma companies because of the quality and efficiency of its clinical trials.

“Many people are alive because of those trials, and we also created 150 jobs,” he says.

“That model worked for us, so we thought why not try it in other areas of healthcare, which led to the idea of creating a Life Science Campus in Birmingham, on the old Yuasa Batteries’ site.

“Steve Hollis (deputy chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP) was brilliant at identifying sources of funding, and when that site is ready, it will focus on data and genomics.

At the same time, we need to attract more FDI (foreign direct investment) and engage more effectively with SMEs in this region. ”If we get everything right, and I certainly believe we will, this area could easily become the healthcare equivalent of Silicon Valley, and that’s no exaggeration.” n

Birmingham has long been a crucible of creativity, but we are now seeing a healthcare cluster evolving on an international scale – it’s very special

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SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

INTERVIEW

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IT has a key role to play in driving efficiencies and improving outcomes

HOW DATA CRUNCHERS AID CRUNCH DECISIONS It’s easy to imagine modern healthcare is all about patients undergoing surgery and researchers developing new treatments.

However, a new and digital-savvy generation is emerging behind the scenes, whose talents lie in the capture, collation and analysis of data.

Daniel Ray, director of informatics at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, has become one of the leaders of the UK’s fast-growing healthcare IT sector.

Around 50 of his colleagues crunch the numbers, and another 80 staff are involved in different aspects of the trust’s data projects.

“Our core functions are to underpin and support the hospital in delivering better care and support to patients, and to analyse the data we generate and acquire” says Ray. “The vast majority relates to primary care

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functions, so doctors collate it, we secure it and analyse it, then feed back our findings to doctors, nurses and senior management.

The data could relate to something as large as an A&E department, or as small as a particular ward.

“We’ve got something like a couple of billion data entries, but of course that includes data from other UK hospitals and overseas.”

Around 140,000 prescriptions can now be generated electronically every week, and that doesn’t include related administration work.

There’s been much talk in recent years about pressure on front-line nursing staff, and one of the most intriguing projects to come from Ray’s unit is the ‘clinical dashboard’.

Information about a patient’s treatment is fed into the database each night, so nurses and

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doctors can access it the following day via mobile ward-based dashboards.

“I’ve been here eight years, and then everything was done on Excel spread-sheets,” recalls Ray. “Now all the consultants use handheld devices, and the dashboard is there with everything the staff need.

“It tells you such things as a patient’s weight and food intake, when they last received treatment, and even how quickly the ward phones are answered.”

Every NHS hospital has a sizeable database, of course, but Ray says UHB’s focus on inhouse IT development means it has a far ‘richer’ store of information than any other.

“We’re very proud of the systems which have been created here to capture, manage and store data. It’s cheaper and more efficient than outsourcing data activity, and it’s all driven by the desire to treat patients better” he says.

UHB’s electronic systems and data capture network was established before Ray arrived, but he has driven the introduction of sophisticated analysis, web-based tools and, intriguingly, commercialisation.

“We licence the use of ‘health intelligence’ software which we’ve designed to other hospitals, and every penny goes back to the NHS,” says Ray. “We also license it at a significantly lower rate than private sector providers, so it’s a win-win.”

Another innovation is the My Health project, allowing patients to access all their health records, including treatment details and lab results, securely via a virtual clinic.

“It hasn’t been going long, but 7,000 patients have already signed up, and over the next couple of years, I’d expect that number to increase exponentially.”

Ray gained an unwanted, but very personal, insight into the initiative’s benefits when his mother suffered breast cancer last year.

“She’s fine now, but at the time, she was pleased to be able to read all her lab results and everything about her treatment, from home, and she also got in touch with other patients suffering from the same cancer,” admits Ray. “Some doctors weren’t sure how My Health would be received, but now they’ve seen the feedback from patients, everyone is convinced it will be a great asset.” n

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INSIGHT

BRIDGING THE GAP An exciting new initiative is helping to forge mutually beneficial partnerships between academics and SMEs with a view to overcoming barriers to innovation.

Ian Halstead reports

Above: Sue Wilde-Greer, Below: Anne Simper

Bringing academics and the world of business together is often challenging, so the University of Bimingham has set up a specialist team to create such links in strategic sectors.

Sue Wilde-Greer, a business engagement

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partner for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, explains the rationale.

“The higher education sector, and especially the Russell Group, which is an association of 24 leading universities including Birmingham, has been particularly poor over the years at engaging with SMEs,” she admits.

“Four of us work in the business engagement team here, we all have specific remits and are attached to different colleges on the campus, but there’s also a lot of interaction and collaborative work.

“The lack of interaction with such companies has not been deliberate, but the big plcs and the big brands have just tended to approach the large academic institutions. There’ve been several initiatives in recent years to address this issue, such as the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships’ programme.

“We have a project running at the moment, which has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund, called ‘Accelerating Business-Knowledge Base Innovation Activity’, aimed directly at small and medium-sized enterprises in the West Midlands in the science and technology sectors.”

Unsurprisingly, given the cumbersome nature of the initiative’s official title, it has become known as the ABIA project.

“It’s designed to stimulate R&D, doesn’t require any investment from the SMEs, and is ideal for many healthcare companies, as it covers life and environmental sciences, engineering, and medical and dental science,” says Wilde-Greer.

“The typical applicant is an SME, which has come to a block in terms of developing a product or a process, or they need to carry out market research, or they’ve encountered more general barriers to innovation.

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“We’ll then look to see if anyone at the university has the right expertise, it would usually be a post-doctoral student, and we’ll bring the two together. ABIA has been so well received, that we’re hoping to extend it by gaining more funding.”

There is also a University of Birmingham Business Club, run out of BizzInn, an incubation centre on the Birmingham Research Park, which holds breakfast briefings.

“They’ve been well attended, and typically we have 60% business people and 40% academics, so they’re great for networking,” says Wilde-Greer. “We had one recently on supply chain challenges, and our next one, in March, is about ‘emotional resilience in the workplace’.”

Sue’s colleague, Anne Simper, holds a similar brief - to develop links between academics and SMEs - but in the medical and dental science sectors.

“We’ve already seen a good number of collaborations develop. Some are for contractual reasons, where a business needs to have a product tested before its launch, and we’ve also been asked to do a lot of clinical trials,” she says.

“As we move forward, we’d like to develop deeper links with industry in the region.

We often find they’re not sure how to engage with us, and one possibility is that we send academics to work with them, perhaps for six months, which would be beneficial for everyone.

“At the moment, our main points of contact tend to be through the large pharma and diagnostics companies, such as Binding Site.

The university has relationships with around 60 companies, but not many are in the medical devices sector, which is a key focus for UHB, so we need to widen the scope of those relationships.

“In our college, we have more than 200 principal investigators, and when you also take into account the ITM, there are a lot of exciting research programmes and projects happening here, which I’m sure would be of interest to SMEs.” n

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COMPANY PROFILE

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Changing the Frontiers of Healthcare When you think you are ill and go to a doctor, they diagnose you and treat you based on centuries of learning – the medical profession is really one huge knowledge transfer network

The medical practitioner of the future has portable diagnostic tools

But the world is changing. We are living longer and getting the degenerative illnesses of old age.

We are travelling more and exposing ourselves to diseases, we do not have experience of in our immune system. And science has taught us how diseases work, given us sophisticated diagnostic tools and an ever-expanding range of therapy options. This means that “the medical profession has to know more and more to be able to treat us effectively, when we are ill” says Professor Theo Arvanitis, Professor of e-Health Innovation and Head of Research at The Institute of Digital Healthcare, University of Warwick.

Happily, there is another aspect of our world that is also changing fast and helping us deal with

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this challenge – the digital revolution. The ability to measure, collect and analyse ever larger and more complex data is revolutionising our world, changing the way we do business and empowering individuals to make informed decisions, in a way that was unthinkable only a decade ago.

This future was envisioned by science fiction writers years ago – the medical practitioner of the future has portable diagnostic tools and most ills can be cured by a simple painless intervention.

And although the details may be a missing and the timescales unclear, this will be the future of healthcare.

What is needed to deliver this vision is the understanding to support the design and implementation of digital solutions, in order

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to improve the quality, safety, accessibility and productivity of healthcare. This can only be achieved through applied multidisciplinary research in a wide range of areas: biomedical and health informatics, big data analytics, medical imaging in clinical and neuroscience settings, health systems engineering, biomedical sensors and signals, systems modelling and simulation, psychological and innovative interventions for behavioural change, assistive and healthy living technologies.

To address this challenge, WMG, at the University of Warwick, has partnered with the NHS and Warwick Medical School to establish the Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH). Their aim is to improve people’s health and wellbeing through the

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development, evaluation and implementation of innovative digital technologies.

There are three main areas of research which the IDH is pioneering: SELF-MONITORING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT People collect a lot of information themselves, with a growing number of us using a range of self-monitoring devices to collect data about our own health. Whether it is our weight, how much we exercise, the changes in our pulse rate when we exercise, our blood pressure or our blood oxygen level, all these data can be used to indicate how healthy we are. However, this is an unregulated and non-standardised market; the accuracy of the data and its ownership is still a matter for debate. Professor Caroline Meyer, Professor of Digital Healthcare at IDH points out that, in the context of healthcare self-monitoring, “coordinating the activities and knowledge of several fields could lead to a massive change in how we avoid as well as treat conditions such as obesity”.

HEALTH INFORMATICS AND BIOMEDICAL IMAGING The data collected by doctors is part of the diagnostic process, a process which is getting more complicated. As well as measurement of parameters we are used to (such as temperature, pulse, blood pressure, blood components and so on) we are increasingly using imaging to understand the physical nature of disease effects. We are familiar with X-rays, but have learned the power of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and a whole range of more specific ways to see what is going on inside our bodies – as it happens. Professor Theo Arvanitis is working on how to diagnose complex diseases in the brain; “the brain is the most complex organ, is shielded by the skull and we still do not fully understand how it can go wrong. But applying several diagnostic tools in parallel can give amazing insights and save lives”. All these different sets of data have to be shared between doctors and consultants, GPs and hospitals and used in combination to identify the specific effect of the disease on the individual patient.

And all this has to be carried out in a confidential and secure manner.

EFFICIENCY OF THE SYSTEM The pressure on all health services, caused by the increased number and complexity of illnesses affecting patients, means that we need to improve the efficiency of the medical system, at many different levels. This is analogous to the change

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COMPANY PROFILE

from craft to industry in manufacturing and it is not surprising that there is crossover between the established field of manufacturing efficiency and hospital workflows. Since WMG has been at the forefront of applying these approaches to manufacturing for decades, IDH are translating this knowledge to the healthcare sector and already making major contributions to this area.

The developments in these three areas are not separate. Although the self-monitoring information is currently not routinely used in diagnosis or treatment, if its provenance and quality could be better assured and securely communicated, this information about a person’s

effective at preventing us from falling ill in the first place, providing early therapy to inhibit or stop the progression of a disease and treating us, as quickly and effectively as possible, if we do fall ill. The problem is that we already have a system designed for treating sick people. It has legacy systems for collecting and communicating patient data that cannot cope with the scale and complexity of what we need for this new approach.

And it seems to be permanently short of money.

The new frontier of user-collected health data needs to recognise its potential contribution to healthcare and either standardise itself or submit to government regulation.

Professor Arvanitis pioneering bio-medical magnetic resonance imaging

What is needed to deliver a new vision is the understanding to support the design and implementation of digital solutions, in order to improve the quality, safety, accessibility and productivity of healthcare health over time could be an important element in the provision of healthcare. Also, feedback from the data provided by doctors and hospitals could be used to modify self-management health regimes, to make them even more effective at keeping people healthy and fit. Similarly, knowing the average journey, patients with specific diseases make through the health system, is vital to ensure the system is optimised for the real world and not an “average” patient. Therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to make the health system more

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For further information visit www.idh.warwick.ac.uk or contact Professor Theo Arvanitis, Head of Research.

Email T.Arvanitis@warwick.ac.uk or Telephone: +44 (0)24 7615 1601 Fax: +44 (0)24 7657 2902

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

INSIGHT

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PRECISION MEDICINE TO BECOME SCIENCE FACT The West Midlands is leading a revolutionary national project to decode the human gene.

Ian Halstead discovers more It’s some 30 years since Blade Runner mesmerised cinema audiences worldwide with its bleak vision of a future where genetic engineering was commonplace.

It’s not solely down to director Ridley Scott’s tale-telling talent, but genetics is a concept which still carries a whiff of science fiction.

Now though, it’s about to become science fact through the pioneering 100,000 Genomes Project; a three-year initiative to transform the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer and rare diseases.

NHS England is looking to collect and decode complete sets of genes from 100,000 individuals, allowing researchers, scientists and doctors to initially understand more about such conditions, and then to devise personalised treatments – dubbed ‘precision medicine’.

It’s a national project, but the diverse population mix found in the West Midlands, coupled with the clinical and academic healthcare expertise found in the region, has the potential to put it at the core of genomics worldwide.

Birmingham University professor of surgery, Dion Morton, is leading the project locally, as acting director of the West Midlands Genomics Medicine Centre (WM GMC) – established to link the different processes and elements of the complex initiative.

“We’re collaborating with 18 hospital trusts across the region, which will all help to identify patients, collect samples from them and analyse the data,” he says.

“The NHS has been introducing new

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treatments for the last 50 years after carrying out patient trials, but even by its standards of innovation and delivery, this is something special. It’s an incredible initiative which has the potential to transform the way we treat patients.

“The data will allow us to understand the genetic imprint for each patient, so treatment can be personalised for every individual’s specific condition. By looking at the genetic code for each patient, we’ll be able to identify and fine-tune their drug therapy in an individual way.

“We’ll learn not just which treatments are right for each person, but also which would be the wrong treatments and that will deliver huge benefits to the NHS. By increasing efficiency, it will have more financial freedom to look at novel treatments currently considered too expensive.”

The timelines for the Genomes Project are very challenging, but Prof Morton expects the trusts to collect and analyse around 2,000 sets of genes in the first year, and then some 5,000 for each of the next two years.

He also predicts that the work will generate significant spin-off benefits, for individual patients and their families.

“We’ll be looking at a wide array of rare, but inherited, conditions and of course it will be tremendously useful to accumulate more data on them,” says Prof Morton.

“The genetic codes will also give us detailed insight into what future conditions a patient might develop, and therefore what treatments they will require.

“Genomics is the future trajectory of healthcare, but the research carried out over the next three years will deliver appreciable benefits to current, not simply future, patients.

In the past, the uptake for trials has been more than 95% of those people who were invited to take part, so we’re expecting a similar response.

“One of the benefits, but also a challenge, is that conditions will be identified which the patient might not be aware of, or ones that might relate to other family members, and everyone is very conscious that such information will have to be delivered to patients in a careful and considered way.

“In terms of delivery, we have created what I call a ‘Flying Squad’, which will visit every participating clinic across the 18 trusts to make sure everything is being done correctly to collect samples, analyse the data and

Genomics is the future trajectory of healthcare, but the research carried out over the next three years will deliver appreciable benefits to current, not simply future, patients

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Dion Morton

crucially, to counsel every patient fully throughout the process.

“A huge IT network has also been established across the region to collate all the data, so everyone involved is fully aware of every aspect of the project.”

The work of Prof Morton and the WM GMC will be underpinned by the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) – created as a catalyst to stimulate innovation and increase knowledge which improves the health of the regional population of some 5.5 million.

Its MD is Dr Chris Parker, who spent the best part of 30 years with the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in Afghanistan, Africa, the Balkans, Iraq, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Russia and South-East Asia, and rising to the rank of brigadier, before joining the regional AHSN in January 2014.

“There is genuine excitement about the Genomics Project, because it has the potential to change how healthcare is delivered in very practical ways,” he says.

“As the data becomes available, we can target treatment and prevention in a more intelligent, efficient and effective manner. As Dion says, there are significant spin-offs, such as devising

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improved IT and training programmes for future clinical personnel.

“The results from this initiative will transform the way in which we diagnose, prevent and treat conditions for the benefit of everyone.”

When the project gets formally under way in March, the initial phase will see five regional trusts begin contacting patients and asking them to become involved in the clinical trials.

“We need to start the process steadily, to identify if changes need to be made, so we’ll learn from the first phase, then bring the other thirteen trusts on board in two later phases,” says Dr Parker.

“The funding is in place for the project, but it is still a challenging ask because there need to be future funding streams to educate and train the NHS staff who are involved. It is a very exciting time, and I’m sure the level of collaboration we are seeing across the region augurs well for future projects.

“For individual patients being treated for cancers and rare diseases, there’ll be nothing too different happening when the work starts, but nurses in the clinics will obviously be seeking their informed consent for blood and tissue samples to be taken and analysed.

“At the research and analysis stage in the

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INSIGHT

Chris Parker

various laboratories, all patient identities will be unknown, so there will be no issues about confidentiality.

“When phase three is underway, and all 18 trusts are involved, then we’ll start going out to the private sector for discussions about new treatments.

“NHS England, the AHSN networks and the pharmaceutical industry will then collaborate over the coming years to hasten the rate at which new technologies can be developed and introduced. It’ll be a gradual process, but I think we’ll see clinical practices changing from as early as 2020 onward in response to the new data and knowledge.

“Looking ahead, we’ll see the West Midlands really coming to the fore in the study of genomics, because it has a wonderful mix of people with different gene-types, so accessing all the different gene pools is an area where we enjoy an advantage, whether they originate from Asia, Africa or elsewhere.

“The quality and spread of the data collected and analysed from this region will be immensely beneficial to the overall project, and ultimately the range of new treatments and technologies created to benefit patients and their families will be exceptional.” n

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COMPANY PROFILE

SPRING 15

Inventors need to ‘box clever’ with patent ideas Innovation has been the driving force of the West Midlands economy, since the genius of Abraham Darby and his contemporaries was the catalyst for the Industrial Revolution Even in those distant times though, inventors were constantly complaining that their bright ideas were being stolen by others - who were then making money they didn’t deserve.

The challenges caused by intellectual property (IP) theft remained a problem for innovative companies, even after the Patent Office was established to offer them formal protection in the mid-19th century.

However, the issue snowballed during the 1980s, when counterfeiters - often based in the Far East and South-East Asia - began using technological advances to copy high-profile brands from the Western world on unprecedented scale.

Luxury goods were often their target in the early days, but as those regions where most IP theft took place began to industrialise, and the world entered the cyberspace era, companies and entrepreneurs in an array of sectors found their business model and their livelihoods under threat.

HGF was formed in the mid-1990s to deliver a new approach to protecting IP rights; from the initial ‘light bulb’ moment right through to formal enforcement.

Partner Vanessa Stainthorpe believes its subsequent success, which led to the opening of a Birmingham office in late-2012, is based on the twin pillars which have underpinned its strategy throughout its 20-year history.

“There has always been an intense focus on developing long-term relationships with clients,

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so that you become their trusted advisor, and on building industry-specific teams with intimate knowledge of their sector and of each client’s detailed requirements,” she says.

“To deliver the best results for clients, you’ve got to really have a passion for your particular sector, but also to be creative about advising them how to get the best from every element of their IP portfolio.”

Stainthorpe graduated in electronic engineering, worked as a software engineer, and has since specialised on patent issues relating to the fields of physics and mechanical engineering, focusing especially on medical technology.

She has also prosecuted and advised on numerous patents, including cardiovascular stents and catheters, drug delivery devices, opthalmic technology and spinal and other orthopaedic instruments.

HGF has specialist teams for both pharma and medical devices, recognising that although there may be areas where there is crossover knowledge, that the two are essentially very different sectors, and their clients will require different skillsets from IP advisers.

The pharma team’s expertise goes well beyond patent and trade-mark filing, and prosecution, to include expert strategy advice and sophisticated ‘freedom to operate’ opinions.

Its core areas of expertise include advanced drug delivery systems, dosage regimens, infectious diseases, new medical uses,

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personalised medicine and vaccines.

The medical devices team covers every aspect of that complex and diverse sector, with a special focus on ensuring maximum protection and exploitation of a client’s IP during all phases of development - and clinical trials.

Stainthorpe says such protection is especially important in the manufacture and design of medical devices, as the companies creating the innovative products are often SMEs. “Patent filings in the medical sector have been on the increase in recent years, but sometimes smaller companies think it’s likely to be too expensive to take out a patent, or they don’t see the full advantages of doing so, and decide not to proceed,” she says.

“However, as their business model evolves, and their experience of the marketplace grows, you will often find them taking out patents; either as a defence against their competitors, or because they calculate that they can make money through licensing.”

Stainthorpe is especially enthused by the government’s Patent Box initiative, an innovative approach intended to stimulate entrepreneurship, and investment in R&D, introduced in the 2013 Budget.

“We are still meeting companies who aren’t aware of Patent Box, but essentially, it is a favourable tax regime so you pay less tax on profit derived from patentable inventions,” she says.

“The main rate of corporation tax in the UK is

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21%, of course, but companies registering with Patent Box pay just 10%, and that can be on their global profit from their inventions, not simply from UK revenue.

“As the government intended, it does make getting a patent more attractive, and has appealed to companies of all sizes. When the scheme was announced, for example, GSK announced that it would be building a £350m manufacturing plant at Ulverston because of those tax benefits.”

There was opposition from other EU countries though, led by Germany, which claimed that Patent Box represented a form of state aid, and in its 2014’s Autumn Statement, the UK government announced that the structure of the scheme would be changed.

The details have yet to be announced, but Stainthorpe points out that the existing initiative doesn’t close until June 30th 2016 and that it will then still continue to operate until 2021.

“The message to any company which thinks it could benefit from Patent Box is to act now, to

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COMPANY PROFILE

take professional advice about the potential benefits of taking out patent protection, and to then consult with their tax advisers to understand the financial aspects of the move,” she says.

“Many companies, especially SMEs whose financial resources are often limited, have found this initiative to be beneficial and I am sure others would.”

“Some have taken out patent protection from the point of view of potential future litigation, but some might want to do so just for the tax advantages, and of course, having a patent is also an asset on your balance sheet.”

However, although no company should ever consider such a decision without comprehensive consultation with their advisers, HGF’s Stainthorpe counsels that time is beginning to run short.

“It can take several years to get a patent in the UK, partly because it is necessarily an involved and time-consuming process, but also because the Patent Office has a huge backlog of cases because

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it doesn’t have enough examiners to handle the workload,” she says.

“The system can be accelerated though, with the correct knowledge, and it would be perfectly possible for companies to have their patent applications granted before Patent Box is closed to new entrants in June 2016.

“The application does have to be filed before the product is in the public domain though, so again, the timing does need to be very carefully discussed between the company and its advisers.”

Vanessa Stainthorpe, Partner HGF Sheffield office: Fountain Precinct, Balm Green, Sheffield, S1 2JA Email: vstainthorpe@hgf.com Tel: +44(0) 114 274 3703

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INSIGHT

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BUSINESS THAT MAKES THE WORLD HEALTHIER

Healthcare has become an established element of the West Midlands economy, so ambitious companies are now looking to capitalise on its success by generating business overseas

Ajay Desai is an international trade advisor with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), its lead on healthcare in the West Midlands, and director of international projects at Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce.

The regional UKTI offices often handle initial contact with a business looking for guidance, before liaising with Desai to discover what initiatives, trade missions or overseas exhibitions might lie ahead.

“All our 35 trade advisers are based inside the Chambers, so it’s easy to co-ordinate our activity,” he says. “We may not always have all the answers, but we do know the questions to ask and the people to go to.

“It might be a business new to exports, so they’ll need a fair amount of specific guidance, or an experienced company considering a new region or country, in which case it will probably be more about signposting them towards some of the big shows and exhibitions, and offering our support.

“We’re increasingly seeing interest from companies interested in the ICT side of healthcare, and ones manufacturing medical devices.

“We can research the potential for their business in particular countries or regions, and set up meetings for them.

“When we took a sector mission to China,

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for example, we arranged everything from the interpreters to their transport from one place to another. Typically, I think between 80% and 90% of the work needs to be done before you think about buying the plane ticket.

“Issues such as routes to market, protecting yourself through patents, and making sure all your internal and external resources are in place all need to be considered carefully.”

Among the West Midland companies assisted

by Desai and his UKTI team are Birminghambased Natural Wellbeing (UK) Ltd, which manufactures vitamins, minerals and dietary food supplements.

Business development manager, Darren Lister, says overseas demand for its products has grown spectacularly in a short time.

“We worked with UKTI and Medilink West Midlands right from the start, and they are of huge assistance. In each new country, they help us understand the market, then we tailor our products according to the demographics and local trading structure,” he says.

“Our key focus is on our branded portfolio, rather than own label products, and our model is to work with overseas distributors, who then sell to the pharma chains. There’s a complex registration process before we can begin trading in each new country, but already we’re exporting to 70 countries across six continents.

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“We started by going to Europe, then to the Middle East and Africa, and we’ve had the same very positive response everywhere. We like to showcase our ranges at trade shows, so we were at Arab Health in January, and we’ll have a presence at similar events in Africa, Switzerland and Germany later in the year.”

Natural Wellbeing’s export campaigns were so successful that the business began 2015 by winning the Medilink WM award for international development.

“It was very pleasing to be noticed for our achievements, but there’s a lot of hard work ahead,” admits Lister. “We concluded trading agreements with 26 countries during 2014, so they have yet to come on stream, and we’re also launching a new range of products, so there’s no time to relax.”

At the moment, around 15% of revenue is generated overseas, but Lister says that figure will increase significantly as the formal registrations are completed.

“We are very strong in the UK, so export sales look relatively small now, but by 2016, I’d expect the percentage to have risen to between 20 and 25. The company is very much focused on the long-term, and has just agreed a £20m funding package with RBS which will underpin its long-term growth.

“We’re also investing heavily in our >>

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INSIGHT

Our first system, which was aimed at people suffering from dementia, was designed to assist local authorities when they’re preparing care packages and they typically use it for five or six weeks to monitor an individual

Nigel Taylor

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INSIGHT

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Darren Lister

Ajay Desal

manufacturing facilities in Derbyshire, because developing new products is absolutely crucial if we are to maintain our strong position in the marketplace.”

Another business looking overseas with UKTI’s guidance is Just Checking, based in the delightful surroundings of a refurbished saw mill, alongside a canal, amidst the Warwickshire countryside.

The venture began in 2004, developing innovative monitors to help people who were becoming forgetful to live independently in their own homes for longer.

Now its advanced systems, which use wireless motion sensors and a plug-in controller linked securely to the internet, are used by some 85% of the UK’s local authorities for care planning.

Many families whose relatives have benefited from Just Checking’s technology during an assessment, subsequently hire its systems themselves to keep a discreet eye on their loved ones, as Nigel Taylor, the company’s head of international development, explains.

“Our first system, which was aimed at people suffering from dementia, was designed to assist local authorities when they’re preparing

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care packages and they typically use it for five or six weeks to monitor an individual.

“Once all the data has been collected, it is used to tailor a care package, and the kit is then taken out and installed in another house.

The basic idea is to provide as much objective information as possible, about the way someone is living and looking after themselves.

“We then found that using such a system to see what their relative was doing gave families huge peace of mind, so we developed a different version for ‘family’ uses, with a different range of alert settings.

“Gradually, once we had accumulated significant expertise in designing and operating these systems, we began to look outside the UK because the same demographic and healthcare issues are found in other countries.”

In the short-term, Just Checking is targeting Scandinavia, in the mid-term, it will turn to the rest of Western Europe, and in the long run, it will look further afield.

“Scandinavia is similar to us. Its population is ageing, its healthcare system has serious budgetary pressures and its citizens have a

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high understanding and uptake of mobile phones and the internet, which are obviously crucial to running and monitoring the systems,” says Taylor.

“Denmark is our first stepping stone, then Sweden, Finland and Norway.

“Another advantage is that the penetration of English is very high, as it’s vital to have very detailed and precise conversations about what the system can do, and how it should be set up and operated.

“We’re already speaking to people who have responsibility for social care provision in each area of Denmark and to the IT people there.

“I’ve already been to Copenhagen, Allborg, Odense and some other major centres.

“They have 98 municipalities, which is a lot for a population of not much more than 5.5 million, but we’re looking to set up a pilot project with a small number, to test the system in their environment and see what logistical and customer service issues might come up.

“As with local authorities here, they want to become more efficient, to treat more people and to save money at the same time, so I’m very optimistic about our chances of success there – and elsewhere.” n

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COMPANY PROFILE

The Innovation Challenge How SBRI Healthcare is connecting industry, entrepreneurs, academia and the local NHS to nurture and spread innovation and boost the economy The NHS faces increasing demand at a time of constrained public spending.

The imperative for the NHS to do more with less is well recognised; identifying, nurturing, adopting and diffusing innovation is a key part of the solution.

The Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare) is an NHS England initiative, championed by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), whose role is to promote UK economic growth by spreading innovation and best practice across the NHS. The SBRI Healthcare competitions are launched on a biannual basis and result in fully funded development contracts between the awarded company and NHS England, to meet known healthcare needs.

Generally taking a three-phased development approach, projects start with a 6 month feasibility phase (Phase 1), moving on to a more detailed product development (Phase 2), and are then given an opportunity for validation in NHS setting to accelerate product adoption (Phase 3).

Led through the AHSNs, SBRI Healthcare has built a pipeline of potential innovations that meet the dual objectives of addressing NHS needs and stimulating economic activity. The programme has already created over 100 jobs with estimated savings to the NHS likely to be in excess of £1bn.

The programme continues to go from strength to strength with a nearly five-fold increase in available funding over the last two years. NHS England has a keen focus on their support for economic growth and, along with the AHSN commitment, can look forward to SBRI expanding over the next five years.

As one of the 15 regional AHSNs, the West Midlands AHSN covers an area supported by a high level of academic innovation, generated through a regional community of world-leading universities. As a result of its rich industrial heritage, the region is home to more than 550 medical technology companies employing in excess of 9,000 staff, more than in any other UK region.

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experiencing the side effects of drug therapy.

They can be treated in their own homes in a non-invasive, discreet manner - leading to increased wellbeing and better outcomes.”

Russell Beale, Director, founder and Head of Research of Azure Indigo. www.azureindigo.com

David Ardron, Managing Director of Just Checking

Russell Beale, Director, founder and Head of Research of Azure Indigo

Two such companies benefitting from SBRI Healthcare finding are: AZURE INDIGO Azure Indigo specialises in research, development and commercialisation projects to change peoples’ behaviour. Helped by Phase 1 SBRI Healthcare funding, the company’s newest innovation is a non-intrusive device to help children aged 4-16 years old with nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting) by studying and gently modifying their sleep habits.

The device is of significant benefit to the NHS as it has the potential to eliminate the requirement for the drug therapies currently used.

“The primary benefit for children using this invention is they will stop bedwetting without

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JUST CHECKING Just Checking is a simple, web-based assessment tool to help get the right support to the right people at the right time. It provides objective evidence to support decision-making, taking the guesswork out of support planning.

With support from Phase 3 SBRI Healthcare funding the company is undertaking a 12 month project, started in April 2014, to develop sustainable services for adults with learning disabilities without compromising on the quality of care. The project brings together the NHS, industry and 11 local authorities to accelerate the uptake of innovative technology and workpractice which ensures the level of support is ‘Just Right’, not too little, not too much. “’Just Right’ builds on pioneering work in supported living and residential care of adults with learning disabilities using Just Checking.

We have already seen positive outcomes from using this technology, but this project will allow us to produce scalable, impartial evidence more quickly and with the backing of world class partners.”

David Ardron, Managing Director of Just Checking. www.justchecking.co.uk

To find out more about SBRI Healthcare visit www.sbrihealthcare.co.uk, call 01223 597 813 or email sbrienquiries@hee.co.uk . You can also follow SBRI Healthcare on twitter, @sbrihealthcare

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INSIGHT

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SERVICING SERVICE PROVIDERS

With more than 500 medical technology companies, the West Midlands healthcare sector is already more significant than in any other UK region.

However, its rapid growth isn’t solely down to the talent and commitment of healthcare professionals, academics, researchers and biotech entrepreneurs.

The professional services sector also plays a crucial role by providing specialist knowledge, access to funding streams and business advice on an array of topics.

Mike Standing, who leads Deloitte’s team on life sciences and healthcare for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is currently advising on a series of major initiatives to understand how evidence and data can transform health outcomes and productivity. He believes the region’s healthcare cluster has the potential to make a significant impact on a global scale.

“There are several major clusters in Western Europe; the Golden Triangle linking Oxford, London and Cambridge, and others in Scandinavia, France and Germany, but the big issue is not to see yourselves as competing with them or other locations,” suggests Standing.

“The challenge is to identify what is being done which no-one else does as well, and to leverage that uniqueness on an international scale. For example, there is a cluster around Copenhagen specialising in acoustics and hearing aids, and Minneapolis offers huge expertise in medical devices.

“The secret is to identify areas of expertise in which you can become genuinely distinctive. There is already a dynamic life sciences cluster here, driven by the tremendous inter-connectivity between universities, hospitals, the public sector and the health trusts.

“There’s also a world-class presence in advanced clinical trials, and the new Institute of Translational Medicine will enhance that reputation. There is a uniquely diverse population too, which is a tremendous asset, and I feel a real sense of collaboration between all the various parties.

“They’re working together to devise new procedures, new medical devices and new forms of treatment, and the level of innovation is attracting significant attention. Now we need to attract more investment to support yet more R&D into advanced technologies and solutions.

“We’ve already seen the tremendous work done by Charlie Craddock and his team in clinical haematology, and now there’s real energy about moving new ideas forward in other areas of healthcare and medicine.”

At Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, healthcare specialist and partner Bleddyn Rees also considers the region to be developing significant expertise in ‘connected health’.

He says: “We’re seeing exceptional progress in areas which link digital telecoms to pharmaceuticals, such as tele-health and tele-medicine, which at one level is about bringing disruptive technology to the health industry.

“Its importance in the current environment is that everyone, particularly those in the public sector, have to do more for less – especially as the cost of the latest drugs and healthcare services is rising, and the growing population is ageing.

“The Holy Grail is to generate better health outcomes and patient experiences whilst driving costs down, and a big part is devising ways to give people greater independence and to

With the right professional advice and guidance and a business-like approach the region’s impressive healthcare cluster can fully exploit its global potential

Bleddyn Rees

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allow them to stay in their own homes for longer. We’re seeing companies inventing many types of remote monitoring and diagnostics, allowing healthcare professionals to learn more about an individual’s condition, and giving families the ability to monitor a relative’s domestic environment.

“University Hospital Birmingham (UHB), has also made tremendous advances in the ways in which data is collated and used, and has a very impressive health informatics system. Patients can now book appointments, check-in and access their records online, which increases both access and productivity.

“It might surprise outsiders, but care homes have become early adopters of sophisticated ‘connected health’ technology. The providers of social care were very quick to realise the technological advances which have been made, and have become the leaders in its use.”

However passionate Rees is about the potential for such technology though, he readily accepts that there are challenges ahead in taking innovations forward.

“The biggest is probably getting the NHS to buy these products and services, which is largely down to them becoming available in the correct scale and at the right cost,” he admits.

“Will the technology help deliver clinical innovations, or better patient experiences and improved outcomes? In terms of advanced new drug treatments, how swiftly and effectively can they be moved through the regulatory and compliance regimes?

“One major issue which has always impacted on the NHS is that around 50% of all drugs are not taken by patients – for multiple reasons. It would be a major breakthrough if an effective ‘drug adherence’ platform could be delivered.

“Innovations in the way we use technology and data are helping manage patients better – it’s important other hospitals learn from UHB’s example.”

Protecting innovations is another important area of activity for the region’s professional services sector, and Marks & Clerk partner Pam Bryer says much of the work done by her and her colleagues concerns medical devices.

“It’s a broad spectrum of work because the sector is thriving. We’ve seen everything from large and sophisticated equipment designed to be used in operating theatres through to small devices which are for people in their homes.

“Most items from the medical sector are patent-related. We don’t see many providers looking to protect their innovations by design, and I think more could be made by companies of their designs to bolster their IP property provision.

“Most of the IP work is done on behalf of the smaller start-ups because you come across so many infringements in this sector.

Companies have to decide whether to go after an infringement full-bore, or if it just needs a letter.

“We haven’t seen many infringement cases of late. It may be that people don’t want to get involved in litigation, or are deciding it’s not worth the expense.”

Bryer also sees a new wave of entrepreneurial activity coming from individuals who have decided to set up on their own.

“They might be engineers, or they’ve been in the NHS, but it’s all about people having a bright idea and then having the courage to set up in business.

From that perspective, the pipeline is looking good, but from a patent perspective, people still aren’t making enough use of the tax breaks in the ‘Patent Box’ scheme.

“It looks as if the government will close that initiative to new entrants in the summer of 2016, but it’s certainly still worth looking at, if you’re looking to get the most commercial and tax benefits from your innovation.” n

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INSIGHT

The Holy Grail is to generate better health outcomes and patient experiences whilst driving costs down, and a big part is devising ways to give people greater independence and to allow them to stay in their own homes for longer

Mike Standing

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INTERVIEW

SPRING 15

MAN WITH THE MIDAS TOUCH Ian Halstead catches up with Prof Chris Hewitt, the executive dean of Aston University’s School of Life and Health Sciences, for an honest and intriguing conversation about his new role Effective engagement between public and private sector has underpinned the expansion of Birmingham’s healthcare cluster, and such relationships will continue to be critical.

Universities, research institutes and other bodies are continually looking to make SMEs aware of opportunities for mentoring, grant support and other initiatives.

Further up the corporate scale, the same bodies are competing fiercely to attract the global plcs and pharma brands, and to persuade them of the merits of collaboration; perhaps on an R&D project, in a strategic niche where the former can display especial knowledge, or via a formal joint venture.

Such relationships can, of course, generate millions in funding and are increasingly important in an era when higher education budgets are under more pressure than ever.

Equally, it’s crucial that universities and other institutions are able to win major funding from research councils, whose budgets are under pressure, by competing against their peers.

It’s certainly not the world to which many academics have grown used, and prospering in the new and more commercially-focused environment brings many challenges – at both personal and strategic levels.

In November 2014, Aston brought in Prof Hewitt to lead its School of Life and Health Sciences, and creating productive commercial relationships with the major corporate brands will be a central element of his role.

As Aston noted when unveiling its new recruit, he had won more than £25m in grants and

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awards during his time with Loughborough University, where he was a professor of biological engineering, an associate dean for research and director of the Cell Technologies Research Group. Prof Hewitt also co-founded and developed Loughborough’s Centre for Biological Engineering, which focused on the potential of regenerative medicine and cell technologies to improve human health.

He’d previously lectured at the University of Birmingham, specialising in innovative ways of bringing together the traditionally separate

worked as a consultant with some of the largest global pharma brands.

He also proved adept at winning funds from such grant-awarding bodies as the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Medical Research Council.

“Something like £10m came from the EPSRC for research, so we could train 110 PhD students, which was fantastic for them and us, and around 20% of them were co-funded by the major pharma companies,” he says.

His stay at Loughborough was clearly successful at the personal level, for the university itself and for the many research students who were taken on, so what was the catalyst for his move?

“I think seven to eight years is long enough to be working with any institution, as a general principle. We’d also got to the point where we were in ‘steady state’. It was about handle-turning rather than innovation,” admits Prof Hewitt.

“As an academic, I believe you have to reinvent yourself every 10 years. The move to Aston was also a promotion, and I knew it was going to be a challenge, not least to introduce its academics to new ways of thinking and working.

“I believe that our education system breeds

I believe our education system breeds too many selfish people, who specialise very early on their careers. I like putting together multi-disciplinary teams disciplines of engineering and life sciences.

“There were very few people looking at the translational element of medicine five or six years ago, and I wanted to study new ways of bringing products to the marketplace,” recalls Prof Hewitt.

“For example, how do you treat 100,000 patients with cell therapies, and what’s the best way to use stem cells to treat diseases?

It was about taking existing techniques, but then creating new delivery methods. It was also about learning to think differently.”

During his time at Loughborough, Prof Hewitt

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too many selfish people, who specialise very early on their careers. I like putting together multi-disciplinary teams, which worked extremely well at Loughborough, and I’m sure will bring significant benefits to Aston.”

Prof Hewitt is now into his fourth month at the School of Life and Health Sciences, and admits much of that time has been spent listening to his new colleagues, judging how they approach their work, and understanding their areas of expertise.

“First of all, you have to win everyone’s trust, because they will be wondering why they

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should believe someone who has just arrived from another university,” he says.

“Next, it will be about benchmarking, at the UK level and internationally. We need to decide which niche areas we should focus on, and what we can achieve there. It’s also about deciding which areas we should perhaps pull out of.

“Then you have to identify everyone’s potential. If you can find people in the early stages, and get them on an upward trajectory, they can achieve remarkable things. There also needs to be a realisation that not everyone can be a principal investigator. Essentially, it’s about finding the right place for everyone.

“Aston has a reasonable amount of grant income, but it needs to be much higher, and I also get the impression that there’s been too much of a scattergun approach. You obviously need a pipeline of projects and papers, but everything has to be more focused.”

In the medium-term, Prof Hewitt will lead a strategic review of the school’s operations, and build a senior management team.

“We’ll probably have a couple of days away in the autumn of 2015, to look at where we should concentrate our teaching strategy and our research strategy, and to really focus on engagement,” he says.

“Engaging with the major pharma brands gives a solid focus to your work, it can’t all be blue-sky thinking and research, fun though that may be. You also can’t be operating in isolation. Regenerative medicine research at university level is very expensive, so you need focus, you need targets and you need revenue streams.”

Looking a year ahead, Prof Hewitt is bullish about what the new approach will have delivered.

“We’ll have identified, say, five key areas of activity in which Aston can be world-leading – we’ll have an action plan designed to focus on them, and a strategy to get there,” he says.

“I’m not pre-judging what will happen, but I do know the issues which have to be tackled and, of course, once everything is finally agreed, we have to dovetail it into the university’s 2020 strategy. You can’t come up with a new operational strategy without constantly thinking about its context, as retrofits don’t work.” n

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INTERVIEW

SPRING 15

AIMING TO MAKE IMPLANTS SAFER The first tenant at Birmingham BioHub is a start-up venture from Budapest – NanoTi. Ian Halstead talks to its co-founders, Miklos Weszl and Kristian Toth Titanium implants, for medical or cosmetic reasons, have become an accepted part of contemporary Western life.

They certainly aren’t cheap, but the benefits – whether for dental or orthopaedic uses – are significant, for the physical health or wellbeing of the individual undergoing the procedures.

However, as the use of such treatments has soared, so has the incidence of bacterial infections which colonise the implant, requiring significant and expensive multiplestage surgery to tackle the condition.

It’s been calculated that in the US alone, the cost of such procedures has swelled to $2 billion, not least because there is no off-theshelf solution.

Which is where the talented twosome from Hungary come in - having developed a novel surface treatment technology which

SPECIAL REPORT | SPRING 15

both prevents bacteria attaching itself to the implant, and promotes rapid integration between metal and tissue.

“It’s a problem which has grown dramatically.

Ten years ago, two to three per cent of dental implants required later treatment for bacterial growth, but now it’s between 20% and 30%,” says Weszl, the company’s chief technical officer and inventor of the innovative treatment.

“Antibiotics have increasingly lost their effectiveness as a potential solution, because the bacteria is increasingly resistant to them, and the cost of treatment can reach 10,000 euros for an infected dental implant and 80,000 euros for orthopaedic implants, where there is also a risk of limb loss and even death.

“It’s expected that the number of cases will continue to rise rapidly as life expectancy,

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and the use of implant-based procedures, both increase.”

NanoTi’s solution is to use a proprietary electrochemical process on the implants to kill existing bacteria, and create a biofilm barrier to prevent future bacterial growth.

“We haven’t heard of any competitor trying to treat this problem, other than by using coatings of antibiotics or silver, both of which have serious side-effects. Once we enter the market, we expect to enjoy a competitive advantage for between three and four years,” says Toth, who is the CEO. “Our prototype equipment is ready, biological tests are underway, we have two prospective customers lined up for a production pilot, and are drafting collaborative agreements with two of the largest manufacturers of dental implants, who are based in France and Hungary.

“Around two-thirds of the implant manufacturing industry is controlled by fewer than ten major players, who charge premium prices and use the most advanced technology.

We will focus for customers on the second tier of the market, where companies use similar technology, but at value prices.”

NanoTi has already been awarded an 860,000 euro grant from the European Commission for product development, and has won another 400,000 euros from ‘business angels’ to allow them to enter the market during 2015.

The duo have also filed a provisional patent for the US market, and have commissioned one of the world’s best-known bloggers on medical subjects to raise their profile.

So why did NanoTi decide to open a satellite office outside their native country, and why at the Birmingham BioHub? “We believe that the location of an early-stage startup can determine of its future success, and Birmingham was attractive for us because of the extensive infrastructure that the city could offer for life-science companies,” says Toth.

“The BioHub was like an oasis for us, because it could provide exactly what our start-up needed at its fledgling stage. Our presence there has been a door-opener for us, allowing us to attract seed investors and strategic partners, we also became eligible to apply for EU grants.” n

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Talk to the HGF Healthcare team about your IP strategy in the healthcare fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technologies.

For more information please call Chris Moore on +44(0) 121 644 4960 or email cmoore@hgf.com

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Birmingham has long been a crucible of creativity, but we are now seeing a healthcare cluster evolving on an international scale – it’s very special PROF CHARLIE CRADDOCK, FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF BIRMINGHAM’S CENTRE FOR CLINICAL HAEMATOLOGY

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