Liverpool’s Life Sciences community teams up for global industry event to boost investment

Leaders from Liverpool City Region’s Life Sciences community join forces to showcase expertise at World Vaccine Congress 2023 in Washington.

Industry leaders from Liverpool City Region and representatives from the Invest Liverpool City Region team at Growth Platform are joining forces to highlight the region’s global life sciences expertise at this year’s World Vaccine Congress (WVC) in Washington.

WVC will bring the Life Sciences community together to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry across five days of education, inspiration, and networking from 4 April to 8 April 2023.

It follows last year’s news which saw Liverpool City Region awarded UK government status as a leading location for Vaccines Development and Manufacture in recognition of its internationally significant expertise in the discovery, development and manufacture of vaccines – a market estimated to be worth £53bn by 2028.

Representatives from the sector within Liverpool City Region will attend the event including global life sciences leaders including Astra Zeneca, CSL Seqirus, The Pandemic Institute and ReNewVax, who will all promote the Region’s thriving Life Sciences community and deep expertise in the sector.

Professor Tom Solomon CBE of The Pandemic Institute and the inward investment team at Growth Platform will be promoting Liverpool City Region and The Pandemic Institute at an invitation-only event at the British Embassy to a US-based audience. Prof Solomon will also attend at a roundtable event at WVC on Thursday 6th April, with Jennifer Harries, CEO of UK Health Security Agency, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Director of ‘Shot in the arm’, Jennifer Nuzzo, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. Alison Snyder, Managing Editor at Axios.

Growth Platform’s inward investment team, Invest Liverpool City Region provides business with one point of access to dedicated support and guidance on growth, investment and collaboration opportunities in the area will also attend and will be sponsoring an event at the British Embassy on Monday 2 April.

Gavin Quinn, Head of Commercial Development at Growth Platform said: “Liverpool City Region has a long track record in innovation, a reputation further enhanced by Government recognition that we’re an area with huge potential for investment in the development and manufacture of vaccines, so it’s important to share our credentials and our appetite for more growth with a global audience at WVC.

“Liverpool City Region is already one of the world’s fastest-growing centres of excellence in infectious diseases research and development, with expertise from vaccine discovery and clinical trials to manufacturing and logistics, so we hope to showcase Liverpool City Region and attract further inward investment to continue to grow the City Region’s thriving Health & Life Sciences sector.

Peter Timmins, Chair of the Health & Life Sciences board for Liverpool City Region, said: “As Chair of the Liverpool City Region Health and Life Sciences Board I have a great belief in the strengths in the region’s Biopharma & Biotech sector and the clinical research capabilities here, as well as possessing ambitions for the further success of our higher education and academic research capabilities.

“Knowing what we can offer and share with attendees, I anticipate making contacts that could lead to additional inward investment opportunities, building on an already significant amount of current inward investment in vaccine research, development and manufacturing, and associated biotech and biopharma. I’m keen for us to develop relationships through the Congress that will forge collaborations with parties bringing new advances in vaccine technologies forward.”

Dr Marie O’Brien, Chief Scientific Officer, ReNewVax – the University of Liverpool spinout that will be attending the event with Invest Liverpool City Region said: “We’re very excited to be exhibiting at this world-renowned event, where we will be sharing details of our lead vaccine programme RVX-001.

“RVX-001 is a novel and cost-effective protein-based vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease, that provides universal coverage through antibody- and cell-mediated responses.

“The Congress is the perfect stage from which the Liverpool City Region can showcase the progress we are making with developing vaccines that will help address some of the world’s most urgent health needs – it’s a privilege to be part of such a dynamic, world-changing community.”