OXFORDSHIRE’S RESPONSE TO THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC A LIFE SCIENCES ECOSYSTEM IN ACTION

JANUARY 2021 OXFORDSHIRE’S WORLD-LEADING RESPONSE TO COVID-19

In January 2020, when Throughout 2020, its collaborative, Covid-19 was still unknown innovative and pioneering approach to much of the world, has led the way in the fight against Oxfordshire’s scientists were Covid-19. already working on a response. Oxfordshire’s response has The county’s well-established included: life sciences ecosystem – which • Virology, genomics and structural includes pioneering academic biology research and medical institutions, unique • Vaccine and treatment research, research establishments, and clinical trials and manufacturing hundreds of biomedical companies • Diagnostics development – was able to mobilise immediately. • Data, digital services and shared The region is world-renowned information for its work in medicine, research • Medical devices and diagnostics, and has a long- held expertise in vaccinology and immunology. Oxfordshire has a unique combination GLOBALLY- of life sciences resources, unparalleled IMPORTANT anywhere in the world.

RESOURCES INSTITUTIONS: DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE: UNIVERSITIES: Development, research and funding bodies create the infrastructure for life sciences to grow. The University of has been named #1 for medicine for the past nine years (THES). Over 5,000 people work in the • Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK University’s Medical Sciences Division which generates 7,000 Research & Innovation, a government body that directs research outputs pa. The University’s is one of research and innovation funding • Oxford Academic Health Science Network, which puts Oxford the world’s largest research institutions dedicated to non-profit Technology Park vaccine research. Oxford Brookes University has an active innovation into clinical practice Oxford Brookes research-led Department of Biological and Medical Sciences. • Satellite Applications Catapult: at the interface between Begbroke University health tech, space and data Science Park NATIONAL RESEARCH RESOURCES: • Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, which acts as a Jenner Institute Key organisations within the Harwell HealthTec Cluster include catalyst and convenor to drive the county’s growth. OxLEP the Rosalind Franklin Institute, a new national government- awarded funding to the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility, Oxford University funded institute dedicated to bringing about transformative a vital link between academic research and clinical drug Hospitals Birmingham changes in life science through interdisciplinary research and development, enabling rapid progress into clinical trials technology development; the Diamond Light Source, the • Oxford BioEscalator, a biotech incubator, founded in 2018 with £11m of government funding secured by OxLEP. In 2020 Banbury UK’s national synchrotron and the Science and Technologies’ Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility. its 13 start-ups raised £320m and two new companies were created. All have made their infrastructure, equipment and resources Chipping Norton Milton Keynes and Cambridge available for rapid Covid-19 research. Bicester Cheltenham and Gloucester HOSPITALS: EXPERTS AND WORKFORCE: The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a Oxford Airport Burford Oxford, Cambridge and leading medical research and teaching establishment. Professors Sarah Gilbert, Adrian Hill and Andrew Pollard from Witney London Golden Triangle Eynsham the Jenner Institute/Oxford Vaccines Group have led the way Carterton in the development of the ‘Oxford’ vaccine. Other significant Thame OXFORD figures include Professor Sir John Bell (’s LIFE SCIENCES CLUSTERS Regius Professor of Medicine) and Professor Helen McShane Abingdon AND SITES: (director of the National Institute Health Research, Biomedical Faringdon Research Centre). Professors Martin Landray and Peter • (University of Oxford) London Horby are professors of emerging infectious diseases and • John Radcliffe, Nuffield & Churchill Hospitals Quarter Global Health, and Peter is also chair of the UK government’s Grove • Milton Park Didcot Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. Professor Sarah • Wantage Wallingford Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at • Oxford Business Park the University of Oxford, is Chief Investigator and Academic • Lead for the National Covid-19 infection survey. Structural Swindon Henley on Thames • Harwell Campus Reading biologist Professor David Stuart is director of life sciences at • Oxford Technology Park Oxford the Diamond Light Source. Business Park An estimated 800 people working in Oxfordshire’s life Harwell Campus Oxford Science Park sciences sector have been involved in the Covid response. Home to Rosalind Franklin Institute, Diamond Light Nearly 6% of Oxfordshire population (>25,000) work in life Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories Culham Science Park SUCCESS STORIES sciences and healthcare. University of Oxford Milton Park Two of the top 10 UK life sciences companies #1 for medicine. 5,000-strong by total funding received are based in Medical Sciences Division. Oxfordshire: “Oxford has enormous • Oxford Nanopore (£650m raised) medical research power” Professor Gavin Screaton, Head of Medical • Immunocore (£281m raised) [source: Beauhurst] Sciences Division, University of Oxford

2 3 THE BREAKTHROUGH VACCINE On 4 January 2021, at Oxford’s of having successfully modified a Churchill Hospital, 82-year-old chimpanzee adenovirus to create a Brian Pinker became the first human immune response and of having patient to receive the Oxford made and safety-tested a vaccine for AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. MERS by December 2019. By that day, more than half a million The vaccine went from design to the doses of the vaccine were ready for use, first human clinical trials in a record four and the UK government had ordered a months. By the end of April 2020, the solution suitable for widespread further 100 million doses – enough for team from the Jenner and University distribution. most of the UK population. of Oxford spin-out Vaccitech signed a milestone agreement with AstraZeneca Meanwhile, from September, Oxford It was a significant landmark for a vaccine with a commitment to non-profit Brookes’ spinout company Oxford whose development had begun the distribution in the developing world and Expression Technologies was working previous January – and for a process that equitable global access. By the autumn, in partnership with Vaxine, an Australian normally takes years. it had been tested on 24,000 people biotechnology company, to accelerate The vaccine was the product of worldwide and phase 3 trials showed the creation of a Covid-19 vaccine. one of the earliest breakthroughs in 70.4% efficacy. It was approved by the Like the Oxford/AstraZeneca one, it understanding the virus. The team at UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products will be added to the COVAX portfolio, a the Jenner Institute acted immediately Regulatory Agency on 30 December WHO-supported global collaboration to when the first six virus sequences were 2020 accelerate the development, production, published from China in early January It currently stands out from other and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, 2020. They built on their experience treatments, and vaccines. current vaccines as a low cost, stable PIONEERING DIAGNOSTICS AND DIGITAL HEALTH Diagnosis, testing and digital (polymerase chain reaction) tests which are being used at Heathrow and trialled technology are all playing a part see whether someone currently has at Hong Kong airport. The company’s in managing the spread of the Covid-19. acquisition by Hong Kong company FAST-TRACKED TREATMENT pandemic. Some of it is genuinely Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing Prenetics in October will enable the test cutting edge on a global scale. technology is being used to support to be rolled out to airports globally. TRIALS AND NOVEL THERAPIES Accurate testing to find out who has, or rapid, large-scale analysis of Covid-19 Machine learning developed by data samples globally. Sense Biodetection is visualisation company Zegami is being The University of Oxford has led monoclonal antibody therapy to relieve has had the virus, has been the focus of developing a diagnostic test than can be used to diagnose Covid-19 from lung two national platform trials for the acute respiratory distress. Novel urgent attention. Several Oxfordshire used in any primary care setting and give X-rays. treatment of Covid-19. immunotherapy company Scancell is companies have been focusing this type results in 10 minutes. developing a DNA vaccine. of testing and how to scale it up. Monitoring: An app developed by • RECOVERY is the world’s largest Oxford University spin-out Oxsed Sensyne Health is being used to New technology is helping to speed By February, GeneFirst had produced clinical trial of treatments for has developed low cost rapid tests that help people at home monitor their up research, diagnostics, therapeutics two real-time 90-minute PCR hospitalised patients, involving 176 symptoms, and is part of a broader and vaccines. Absolute Antibody has hospitals and 18,000 patients, and has strategy to provide a platform that engineered SARS-CoV-2 neutralising tested six different drugs to date. enables the delivery of care to patients antibodies derived from individuals • PRINCIPLE, the first clinical trial in remotely. Isansys’s remote wireless infected with Covid-19 into recombinant THE MOONSHOT Covid-19 patients in primary care – National synchrotron Diamond Light Source at Harwell has been able to probe monitoring system is allowing clinicians formats useful for Covid-19 research involving 2,000 patients so far – has the many small chemical ‘fragments’ of the SARS-CoV-2 protease as potential to identify and predict deteriorating and diagnostic development which are looked at home treatments to prevent drug target binding sites at unprecedented speed and scale. Diamond has patients faster and with less nurse now available to scientists and diagnostic hospitalisation. been a key participant in the global Covid Moonshot effort, which has brought to patient contact, while freeing up developers worldwide. CATALYST is a collaborative trial with together international scientists from academia and industry in a non-profit intensive care beds. Birmingham University into drugs to The Native Antigen Company has initiative, in conjunction with machine learning-powered medicinal chemistry mitigate the severity of reactions. introduced ten new monoclonal company PostEra. Moonshot has used crowdsourcing techniques to call on Further work has been carried out on antibodies recognising SARS-CoV-2 as a chemists around the world to design new inhibitors using the rich fragment monoclonal antibodies. resource for researchers working in vitro data it has managed to capture. All data has been made available to the world’s diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Oxfordshire-based companies scientific community. Exscientia and Scripps Research also screened over It is collaborating with Oxgene to use its Perspectum Diagnostics and 15,000 drug molecules at Diamond using AI. technology to scale up the manufacture BerGenBio are each involved in global of Covid-19 antigens and has recently treatment trials. taken on the lease of a 50,000 sq ft New therapies have been developed, facility at Oxford Technology Park. with several companies pivoting from Exscientia is using AI to shorten the pre- their work in other disease areas such clinical stages of drug development by as oncology to focus on Covid-19. up to 75% and reduce costs. Izana Bioscience is developing

4 5 MANUFACTURING The Vaccines Manufacturing and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) Innovation Centre (VMIC) on the manufacturing facility, which provides EPIDEMIOLOGY Harwell Science and Innovation the link between academic research Campus is a highly specialist and clinical drug development, AND PUBLIC facility that will house the country’s enabling rapid progress into HEALTH first bespoke strategic vaccine clinical trials. development and manufacturing In September, Oxford Biomedica, a Oxford expertise has been capability. Planned in advance, its leader in gene and cell therapy, signed instrumental in tracking Covid-19. construction has been fast-tracked a supply agreement with AstraZeneca The UK’s National Covid-19 infection and it is on schedule to be onstream for large-scale commercial survey is run from Oxford. Dr Sarah by mid-2021, when it will be able to manufacture of the AZD1222. It Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics produce up to 70 million pandemic has since doubled its manufacturing and Epidemiology at the University of vaccine doses in its first 4-6 months. capacity at OxBox, its new 7,800m2 Oxford, is the survey’s Chief Investigator. Founded by the University of Oxford, commercial manufacturing centre in Oxford University researchers provide Imperial College London and the Oxford. weekly UK-wide data for the Office of London School of Hygiene and The region’s high-tech manufacturers National Statistics as part of the national Tropical Medicine, the VMIC is helping quickly geared up to make ventilators Covid-19 Infection Survey. to scale up all vaccines. As part of the during the first wave of the pandemic In November, the University signed national vaccines industry taskforce, including Oxford Optronix, Penlon, a partnership with Thermo Fisher its expertise has helped devise the OES Medical. Engineering companies Scientific to ramp up its capacity to ‘Virtual VMIC’ to enable vaccine Prodrive and Williams Advanced deliver testing data and create a new manufacture until the main facility Engineering also pivoted their rapid testing laboratory able to carry out is ready. operations to contribute to the effort 50,000 tests per day. Integral to designing the vaccine to create ventilators, while medical University of Oxford’s feasibility (FACTS) manufacturing process has been device maker Owen Mumford study is assessing Lateral Flow Tests. the Clinical BioManufacturing provided 10 million rapid blood testing Facility, the University of Oxford’s devices. A research initiative called Co-SPACE, supported by NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, the Oxford and Thames Valley NIHR Applied Research Consortium and the UKRI Emerging Minds Network Plus, has been FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN US Oxfordshire is aiming to become one of the world’s top three innovation tracking how families have been coping ecosystems by 2040. Would you like to be part of this success story? throughout the pandemic to identify what advice, support and help can If you are interested in being part of this exciting ecosystem, or protect young people’s mental health. would like more information, please contact: The Blavatnik School of Government Sebastian Johnson created the Oxford Covid-19 Head of Innovation & Investment Government Response Tracker Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxCGRT) to examine the policy [email protected] interventions of international +44 (0) 7917 088122 governments.

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