Cobra Biologics has been awarded £2.6 million ($3.4 million) capital infrastructure investment by Innovate UK. 

The award was given under Innovate UK’s Industrial Strategy boost for UK medicines with £70 million of funding to help develop new treatments. The investment will go towards a £5 million development project, which feeds into a £15 million company expansion announced by Cobra in 2017. The expansion will be to advance world leading capabilities for clinical and commercial production of viral vectors and DNA, vital for gene therapy and immune-oncology programs.

The extended capacity and capability will allow Cobra increased process development, analytics and GMP manufacturing, and importantly provides the necessary infrastructure to offer commercial in-market supply of viral vector and DNA products to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) developers. The expansion will double the footprint of Cobra’s UK site and create 25-35 additional jobs.

Peter Coleman, chief executive of Cobra Biologics, said, “Cobra is undertaking a very significant expansion of our viral and DNA manufacturing capability and we are very pleased to have received funding from Innovate UK to help accelerate our plans. The investment recognizes Cobra as a leading company in the cell and gene therapy market and provides us, and the UK, with a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of developing revolutionary disease therapies and new treatments for patients.”