NPL, alongside digital SMEs Stream Native and Wyoming, are the latest members to join a CPI led consortium which will bring a range of digital and data expertise to projects supporting the UK pharmaceutical sector. The consortium will help deliver the innovation required for a digital manufacturing future for the pharmaceutical and life science sector. The Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre is a collaboration between CPI, the University of Strathclyde, UKRI, Scottish Enterprise, AstraZeneca and GSK, and aims to develop the medicines manufacturing processes of the future, demonstrating at scale step-change innovation technology.

The collaboration will enable even greater exploitation of NPL’s metrology expertise which has long played a leading role in the development of technologies in advanced manufacturing including pharmaceutical applications. Working as part of this newly expanded consortium, researchers at NPL will grow their contribution to the use of digital technologies in the development, manufacture and supply of medicines to deliver faster solutions to challenges in both small molecule and advanced therapeutics manufacturing.

To enable continued progress in the shift away from a dependence on end product quality control, to quality assurance of the entire medicines manufacturing process, requires the ability to trace information across the end-to-end supply chain and to end users. This approach will increase the volume and complexity of data produced as the industry moves to digitalisation of medicines manufacturing. Working with Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre partners and the pharmaceutical industry, NPL will ensure that measurement methods and data frameworks are standardised and produce data of the highest quality, increasing confidence in the manufacture, supply, analysis and control of increasingly complex medicines, to take event greater advantage of the opportunities available in the pharmaceutical industry…Read more