A billion-pound investment in research centres by the Covid vaccine-maker BioNTech is a “firework sent into the night sky advertising Britain’s brilliance” in the life sciences, the science and technology secretary has said.
Announcing the deal, which it is hoped will lead to more personalised medicine and high tech jobs, Peter Kyle said it also demonstrated that the government had learnt from its failure earlier this year to secure a £450 million investment from rival pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca.
BioNTech, which co-developed an mRNA-based Covid vaccine alongside pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has been working with the NHS to develop personalised cancer vaccines. It plans to open an AI hub in London, as well as a research centre in Cambridge focusing on genomics and oncology.
Its commitment of
