Cobra Biologics and Symbiosis announced that they have been awarded a 16-month collaborative grant of £1.9m from Innovate UK.

The grant is awarded under Innovate UK’s Health and Life Sciences Program and is aligned with the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy to invest in and support the development of advanced therapies in the UK.

The joint investment project, costing £4.8m in total, aims to develop world leading capabilities for clinical and commercial production of gene and immunotherapy viral vectors for both drug substance and drug product manufacturing.

The project will also support a larger investment in the production capabilities of both companies, streamlining and de-risking the manufacturing of viral vector products through operational and commercial alignment. The resulting supply chain offering will support the clinical and commercial ambitions of drug developers, leading to more innovative gene and immunotherapy medicines reaching patients.

Peter Coleman, chief executive at Cobra Biologics, said, “Cell and gene therapy products are showing tremendous potential in the treatment of patients. The successful development and production of viral vectors to deliver these therapies is critical to the success of these products. I am looking forward to working closely with Symbiosis to help establish the UK as world leader in is this exciting field.”

Colin MacKay, chief executive of Symbiosis, added, “We are delighted to be working with Cobra on this project with the aim of developing a UK-based supply chain to both facilitate and accelerate the successful clinical and commercial manufacture of viral vectors.”