The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) Phase 2 is now closed to new applications.
Background and objectives of the programme
The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) is part of the Global Britain Investment Fund and will provide £60 million in capital grants for investment in the manufacture of:
- human medicines (drug substance and drug product)
- medical diagnostics
- MedTech products
We have already announced the first tranche of companies to be supported by LSIMF and are now re-opening the fund with the remaining budget of £7.6 million.
Specific themes
We particularly welcome applications from companies with manufacturing investments that demonstrate the adoption of innovative process technologies, for example:
- flexible manufacturing enabling rapid product switching
- continuous manufacturing
- technologies that will minimise impact of the product or the manufacturing process on the environment
- digital twins, which harness the power of data analytics and modelling to optimise manufacturing processes
This list is not exhaustive.
Eligibility
This is a summary of the minimum requirements for ‘in scope’ projects (read the scheme guidance for full details):
Your manufacturing investment must relate to the manufacture of: |
Human medicines (this includes both the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) / drug substance and finished product / drug product). The fund is open to applications across the breadth of types of MHRA licenced medicines for human use, OR
Diagnostics – for both disease identification and monitoring in human health, OR
Medical devices – all types of medical devices related to human health
We will not accept applications that propose to manufacture:
- veterinary medicines
- herbal supplements and vitamins
- input materials
- consumables or equipment suppliers (for example vials, syringes) |
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Your project must: |
Be a manufacturing project: this could be manufacturing product for clinical trials or for commercial sale, AND
Be located in the UK, AND
Have a total investment value of more than £20 million |
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You will be required to: |
Demonstrate that your company has the financial capacity to deliver the project; AND
Demonstrate that the project is fully funded aside from the grant request; AND
Provide 3 years of annual audited accounts |
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To protect public funding, you must: |
Provide a parental undertaking guarantee from your ultimate parent company; OR
Secure and pay for a bank guarantee for the full grant amount over the duration of the project |
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Fund objectives
We will prioritise applicants based on their alignment to the fund’s objectives:
1. Creating economic opportunity through investments that will provide high-wage, high-skilled jobs.
2. Deploying cutting-edge innovations (at both pilot and commercial scale) which can be embedded in either the product itself or the manufacturing process.
3. Increasing health resilience, either through increased domestic capacity or by providing flexible capabilities that can be re-deployed in some way in a future health emergency.
4. Minimising impact on the environment, which might include reduction in input resources or using alternative input materials to become more sustainable or support the government’s net zero target.
How to apply
1. If your company and project meet ALL the criteria listed above and you confirm you will be able to provide the required evidence and financial guarantees - submit a short summary of your project (no longer than one side of A4) outlining:
project background: a description of the planned investment, relevant context and an indication of when the investment could start
an estimate of the total size of the investment broken down into capital, R&D and any training costs. Note: We will only be able to pay a grant towards the capital costs, but it is helpful for you to tell us about all of the project costs
Send the summary to the LSIMF project team at LSIMF@officeforlifesciences.gov.uk. We recommend you share this with the team well in advance of the EOI deadline (step 2) so we have adequate time to discuss your application with you.
2. Subject to the conversation you have had with the LSIMF Project Team, you should complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form and submit by 12 noon on Tuesday 29 May 2023. We will not review applications received after this deadline.
3. We plan to hold applicant interviews online during the week of 12-16 June 2023. We will inform you of your slot the previous week.
4. We plan to inform you by the end of June if you have been successful at the EOI stage. If successful, you will be invited to submit a full application. We will organise a briefing call to help you understand how you should complete the full application form and to agree a date for when you should submit your application by.
Contact
Contact the LSIMF support team if you have any queries about the fund: LSIMF@officeforlifesciences.gov.uk.
