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Queen's University Belfast has developed a number of biocatalytic processes for the production of pharmaceutical intermediates which have been applied commercially. The most significant involved Vernakalant, a new drug for treatment of the most common form of irregular heartbeat, now available in the EU, and currently awaiting approval in the USA and Canada. In addition, QUB has sold £300,000 worth of bioproducts and through the collaborations with Almac Sciences facilitated the initiation of their biocatalysis business which currently is a multi-million revenue earner for Almac Sciences and employs 30 staff, including 15 PhD graduates from the Queen's group.
University of Nottingham researchers have been at the forefront in promoting and establishing Green Chemistry in developing nations. Working with and influencing colleagues and policymakers in both the UK and Africa, they have increased awareness of the importance of introducing sustainable technologies that meet local communities' needs. As a result, they have invigorated the chemistry teaching curriculum in Ethiopia, placing Green Chemistry at its core, and helped shape the approaches of professional bodies, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, for the benefit of the developing world. This has led to what the British Council has described as "a sense of empowerment and confidence" among Ethiopian chemists.
The School of Chemistry has a long track record of pioneering and innovative outreach activities aimed at stimulating public interest and understanding in chemistry research and its societal impact. During the period 2008-2013 it successfully communicated to a wide-ranging audience the significance of a series of "firsts" in the areas of nanoscience and materials for energy applications. Using YouTube, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibitions, roadshows and science festivals, this award-winning approach has engaged hundreds of thousands through digital media and thousands more face-to-face, raising public awareness, inspiring interest in science and delivering educational benefits for students and teachers alike.
University of Huddersfield research in physical organic chemistry has delivered economic, industrial and societal benefits. It has led to process improvements in chemical manufacturing, most notably in the optimisation of the synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides and in the use of liquid ammonia as a solvent. It has also led to the development of new inhibitors of bacterial β-lactamases for use as antibacterials. The research team's expertise has been reflected in the success of IPOS (Innovative Physical Organic Solutions), a unit established in 2006 to carry out research in process and other areas of chemistry for the chemical industry. IPOS expanded significantly from 2009 to 2013 and has now collaborated with more than 150 companies, many of them based in Yorkshire/Humberside where regeneration is critically dependent on the success of new, non-traditional, high-technology firms and industries. Through these collaborative projects, IPOS has contributed to the growth and prosperity of both regional and national industry.
Breakthrough structural and mechanistic work at Oxford University investigating how enzymes catalyse oxidising reactions has had major impacts in biomedicinal fields, including how humans adapt to changes in oxygen availability. Impacts arising from the work since 2008 include the identification of new drug targets for major diseases ranging from anaemia to cancer that are being clinically pursued by pharmaceutical companies (including GSK, Bayer, Astellas, Akebia) and smaller companies (including the Oxford spin out ReOx), and the sale of products including small-molecule probes (e.g. by Tocris, Millipore, Selleck Chem) that are of use in biomedicinal/pharmaceutical research, especially in the emerging field of epigenetics.
Based on innovative technology invented and developed through research at the University of Southampton, sustainable pest control products by spinout company Exosect are being employed around the world to preserve the global food supply. Since 2008 its bio-control products have been newly adopted in diverse situations: by Sainsbury's in response to consumer pressure to reduce chemicals in food; by Bayer CropScience, who bought rights, in a multimillion pound deal, to a product for the protection of bee populations; by English Heritage to preserve the UK's cultural heritage. The technology has inspired a US$1m Gates Foundation grant for poverty reduction efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and raised awareness among conventional pesticide manufacturers of the environmental and economic benefits of bio-control solutions.
Many clinically-useful natural products fall into the class of polyketides. From 1993, research led by Professors Leadlay (Biochemistry) and Staunton (Chemistry) on polyketide biosynthesis pathways led to the foundation of the spin-out company Biotica Technology Ltd in 1996. Between 2008 and 2013 the company provided continuous employment for on average 15-20 highly-skilled scientists, and attracted additional investments of £4.43M. Its follow-on company Isomerase Therapeutics Ltd, founded by ex-Biotica researchers with Leadlay's support in 2013, has acquired compounds, strains and IP from Biotica. Using the methods developed in the University by Leadlay and Staunton, Biotica developed a HepC antiviral therapy, sold in 2013 to NeuroVive Pharmaceuticals AB and currently entering pre-clinical toxicology tests. Biotica have also licensed their technology to a number of companies globally, including GSK and Amyris.
The growth and performance of Biofocus Galapagos Argenta (BGA) and Pulmagen Therapeutics (PT) are underpinned by research from the Imperial-based TeknoMed project that started in 1997. BGA was formed in 2010 through the acquisition of Argenta Discovery (AD) by Biofocus Galapagos for €16.5 million and is one of the world's largest drug discovery service organisations with 390 plus employees and turnover of €135 million [section 5, A]. PT was formed as a separate company to own the complete AD drug pipeline. It develops new medicines to treat asthma, cystic fibrosis and allergic diseases. In 2011 BGA signed agreements with PT for an initial £6million fee and with Genentech for £21.5million.
Global drug crime involving the illicit production of synthetic drugs and the emergence of new legal highs has a detrimental effect on our society and its citizens at all levels. In order to address this global problem, research was conducted that resulted in three significant impacts over the assessment period. These were:
(1) New capability for law enforcement agencies by provision of new tools to identify specific manufacturing routes of illicit drugs and link this back to criminal intelligence data,
(2) Improvement in the accuracy and reliability of identification of legal highs for use by legal practitioners, and
(3) The influencing of policy and protocol for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on addressing legal high drug identification.
The research has underpinned the implementation of new analytical methodologies now routinely used in Malaysia and in over 900 drug sample identification cases in Scotland alone across the assessment period.
Durham has a long-standing record of research into improving the resistance of crop plants towards pests, which includes pioneering work on genetic engineering of plants for insect resistance. The CpTI gene developed in Durham for enhancing insect resistance in transgenic crops has had a major impact on Chinese agriculture, due to the widespread deployment of GM cotton containing genes encoding Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin and CpTI. The SGK 321 transgenic cotton line was approved for commercial growing in China in 1999, and by the current REF period Bt/CpTI cotton was grown on approximately 0.5 million hectares of land, representing approximately 15% of the total transgenic cotton grown (which in turn represented 67% of total cotton production). The economic value of Bt/CpTI cotton is estimated as approx. £600 million per year.