MRC Technology, a UK medical research charity, has moved most of its labs to the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) campus. Located inside the gold triangle, is this the new hotspot of UK Biotech?
MRC Technology provides drug discovery services, as well as advice for commercialisation and intellectual property management, for academia and industry.
Since it was founded in 2000, MRC Technology helped 18 startups and 12 drugs develop from research to the market – including Merck‘s cancer drug Keytruda and Takeda‘s Entyvio for Rheumatoid arthritis. It also generated over €800M (£630M) in royalties.
This research charity has now completed its move to Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) campus, where it will have 2140 square meters of lab space and offices.
The move was announced back in 2013, and MRC Technology is to become the cornerstone tenant in SBC’s Accelerator building. Stevenage was apparently the right place to attract collaborations with universities, Biotechs and Pharma.
It is also becoming an increasingly important innovation hub in the UK Biotech scene – and the location of the recent Appolo Therapeutics Fund, a bridge for top universities and big pharma.
Catapult, one of our top 10 London-based Biotechs, has also chosen Stevenage for its new manufacturing facility. And of course, the innovation campus works closely with GSK, the largest Pharma in the UK.
Stevenage could also benefit by the new plans to re-build the train link between Oxford and Cambridge.
With the high rents in Cambridge, Oxford and London, Biotechs probably see Stevenage as an interesting alternative inside the Golden Triangle.