NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre Progress on implementing our revised strategic plan NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre At the NIHR University College medicine activities and ensure we can make a London Hospitals BRC we have leading contribution to national rare disease been making brisk progress in our initiatives. UCL’s first rare diseases conference took relentless focus on world-class place in February 2013. activity of greatest therapeutic or Professor Bryan Williams’ appointment to the new diagnostic potential. As we enter our BRC Director post has strengthened our leadership. new phase we have expanded this Since August the four programmes have been led focus to drive forward strong and by substantive programme directors (PDs). The PD enduring partnerships with the role has required significant commitment (four life-sciences industry, both in the UK consultant PAs) from four outstanding international and internationally. leaders in experimental medicine: David Linch; Nick Wood; Bryan Williams; Deenan Pillay. All four are or As we push through home grown scientific have been NIHR investigators. discoveries into patient care, we are partnering Our new resource allocation models explicitly small medium enterprises (SMEs) and major target the translational potential of activities industry to share expertise, infrastructure and in nanotechnology, gene therapy, cell therapy/ resources. We are going to be flexible and creative regenerative medicine, bioengineering and in the ways we help create health and wealth. computer science. There are signs that the We are signing major new strategic partnerships increased focus on experimental medicine is with global pharmaceutical companies. A new impacting on the UCLH research portfolio. Between UCL partnership with Eisai Pharmaceuticals is 2011 and 2012 there was a 16 per cent increase now underway to develop novel therapeutics in the number of new early Phase clinical trials for neurological disorders. We are working with approved at UCLH. Over the same period we have GlaxoSmithKline to facilitate drug development for seen a 15 per cent increase in the number of fibrosis. We have also signalled our intent to occupy commercial contract clinical trials approved. space at the GSK supported Bioscience Catalyst We have seen an increase in investigator-led clinical in Stevenage to fast track home grown drug trials involving industry partnerships – reflecting development. Other new collaborations include changing attitudes to industry partnership and work with BioMarin Pharmaceuticals on gene UCL’s impressive track record in translational therapy for haemophilia. funding streams. Examples include a partnership with US-based BioMarin in gene therapy for Scientific focus haemophilia A and projects supported by the MRC- We have condensed activities AstraZeneca translational research partnership in from our previous theme mechanisms of disease. structure into four programmes Progress in our BRC Programmes over the last 12 – Cancer, Neuroscience, months includes: Cardiometabolic Science, and Infection, Immunity and • Drug discovery alliance with Eisai Inflammation. This structure is reflected in the Pharmaceuticals in which researchers from both UCL domain and UCLH clinical board structures, organisations will work together to investigate promoting easier science pull through and radical new ways of treating neurological maximising our leverage of the expertise, facilities diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and and patient populations of our partner hospitals. other related disorders. The aim is to identify and validate novel drug targets, and develop We are, for example, leveraging the clinical, new therapeutics and evaluate them in proof- research and teaching expertise the partnership of-concept clinical trials. A joint Therapeutic offers in rare diseases. A new registry of rare Innovation Group of UCL and Eisai scientists diseases has been established to focus experimental will be formed to coordinate the discovery and 2 Progress on implementing our revised strategic plan assessment of emerging therapeutic targets in Resource model neurological diseases. Research is expected to be carried out at UCL’s new Leonard Wolfson Review of existing BRC funding Experimental Neurology Centre, while Eisai commitments will provide drug discovery and development A review in 2012 of existing BRC funding resource and know-how, assay development commitments has enabled us to make significant capabilities and medicinal chemistry expertise. progress in using a new resource model that If successful, UCL will also receive milestone incentivises world-class activity and rewards and royalty payments on therapies brought to leverage: market. • Review of BRC funded staff – the activity • £500k investment in the MRC Neuromuscular of all BRC-funded staff (Consultant PAs and Centre at Queen Square, integrating our non-Consultant WTEs) has been reviewed and BRC activities with Great Ormond Street and research activity falling outside of the new Newcastle BRC activities. BRC strategy has been moved onto alternative • £900k investment in the Wolfson Drug Discovery appropriate funding streams – typically Research Unit with a focus on new interventions for Capability Funding (RCF). The newly refocused amyloid depletion budgets for Consultant level staff are maximising opportunities for engagement of NHS clinical • industry partnership with Cellectis Therapeutics researchers with UCL scientists. in gene and cell therapy, made possible by BRC investment in advanced therapies development • NHS Support Costs – We have simplified programme at UCL the methodology used to allocate funding for NHS Support Costs in line with the DH AcoRD • increased capacity in early phase clinical trials principles. in inflammatory arthritis with the launch of the BRC-supported Arthritis Research UK Centre for • Overheads – a detailed review of BRC Adolescent Rheumatology Research, including overheads has resulted in a clearer itemisation of a newly appointed Clinical Senior Lecturer in the BRC’s indirect costs. adolescent rheumatology The net effect of our financial review has been to • initiation of high throughput screening identify a core budget uplift from April 2013 of studies of novel agents including cell death in approximately £4.5m a year. osteosarcomas and head and neck cancer New strategic priorities for spend • further developments in the prognostic impact Our programmes have started to fund new of the mutational spectrum in acute leukaemia, initiatives in line with the key principle that BRC including new insights into the development of funds must, wherever possible, be used to leverage drug resistance in solid tumours ‘blue chip’ research or industrial income. We have • joint UCL-Yale MedTech conference in London to done this, for example, by: priming major grant leverage expertise and new product development applications (such as the MRC Neuromuscular across the two sites. Centre and the ARUK Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology); providing matched funding for initiatives and cross disciplinary collaborations (such as the country’s first PET/MRI facility); and allocating funds for the innovation pathway of high impact discoveries showing promise in therapeutics, diagnostics or MedTech. 3 NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre Devolved budgets to programmes Integrating NIHR resources As well as refocused staff budgets each programme We have continued to integrate NIHR infrastructure was allocated an initial £2.5m for 2012/13 to at UCLH and UCL. We have appointed a new deploy within their programmes. By reviewing Clinical Director Nursing to the CRF leadership funding commitments, we have been able to make team. The CRF is the home for our NIHR significant uplifts to the programme budgets from Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre activities. April 2013, according to their size and impact. All UCLH NIHR Clinical Core infrastructure budgets and high Research Network funding impact initiatives allocation is channelled through a new Research £2.5m has been allocated to the BRC Education Support Hub structure. NIHR and Training Programme to help attract and train Research Capability Funding the best of the next generation of clinical scientists (RCF) continues to be an in experimental medicine. extremely constructive funding We have allocated funding to support core stream for us. As well as supporting initiatives in experimental medicine infrastructure, including the later phase research such as health services research BRC leadership and operations teams, the Joint and clinical trials, RCF has been used to fund Research Office, the NIHR BioResource and the Consultant PAs not closely aligned with the BRC PET/MRI. We have carried out an internal review experimental medicine focus. The BRC uses RCF to of our NIHR Clinical Research Facility to ensure it is fund specialist regulatory project managers in gene optimally structured and supported. and cell therapy clinical trials – to help increase in the number of advanced therapy trials. A BRC strategic budget of approximately £10m has been established to support high impact, cross thematic, experimental medicine initiatives that will Governance deliver a step change in our experimental medicine The new BRC Executive Board came into effect capability. These initiatives will, by their very nature, from April 2012. Chaired by the BRC Director, the signal the intent of the new BRC to innovate