iiCON strengthens team following ongoing growth

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iiCON, led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), is comprised of partners Unilever, Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, University of Liverpool, LifeArc, Evotec, and Infex Therapeutics.

The c£250 million programme brings together industry, academia, and clinicians to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of new treatments and innovations– saving and improving millions of lives globally through collaborative innovation.

Following the ongoing growth of the programme, iiCON has appointed a new Senior Programme Manager, Gillian Kyalo, who works closely with iiCON’s founding Director Professor Janet Hemingway to oversee and support the smooth running of the programme. Gillian brings over 20 years’ experience managing complex global International Public Health projects for international consortia and organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, UK Research Councils, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The consortium has also welcomed a new Business Development Manager, Dr Lizzie Crawford, who will focus on fostering strategic relationships and driving commercial partnerships for translational research. Lizzie will work with iiCON’s business development team to engage with companies looking to connect into iiCON’s platforms to support their research and development needs.

With a strong scientific background as a pharmacologist and a Ph.D in molecular and cell biology, Lizzie also has experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. She spent nine years in technology transfer at the University of Manchester playing a pivotal role in supporting translational research, facilitating licence negotiations and establishing successful spin-out companies. Her expertise spans the full lifecycle of research projects from inception to licence agreements within the complex landscape of academia-industry collaborations. Lizzie is also the founder of a digital health spin out company, with experience across all aspects of the start-up process, including business planning, fundraising, partnership development and regulatory planning, providing a solid understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

iiCON has also strengthened its core team, welcoming a new finance manager, Lauren Thistlethwaite; programme manager Rose Lopeman; project administrators, Amy Collins, and Alexandra Pendleton; data analyst Jolene Dunlop, and senior finance business partner Laura Carney, to support operational activity across the dynamic consortium, which operates across ten platforms of activity.

Professor Janet Hemingway, founding Director of iiCON, said:

“We’re very pleased to have welcomed a number of new faces to the iiCON team, each one bringing particular skills and expertise.

“As iiCON continues to attract investment and expand activity across our platforms, the complementary experience and specialist sector knowledge within our team means we are well equipped to continue to develop and support long-lasting strategic commercial partnerships; collaborating effectively with diverse stakeholder groups to drive forward the programme – enabling world-leading infection R&D.”

New UK partnership and research fund aims to tackle infectious diseases

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  • Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and self-funded charitable medical research organisation, LifeArc, are partnering to launch a new Translational Development Fund to help tackle infectious diseases.
  • LifeArc will invest £2.7 million into the fund, which will support the progression of new technologies and treatments for emerging viral threats and neglected tropical diseases.
  • LifeArc will also join the LSTM-led Infection Innovation Consortium: iiCON, making its platform to progress antibody-based treatments available to partners.
  • The partnership aims to help address the urgent need for new approaches to infectious diseases, which cause millions of deaths globally each year, with numbers escalating due to factors such as climate change.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has entered into a partnership with the self-funded charitable medical research organisation, LifeArc, which will join the LSTM-led Infection Innovation Consortium: iiCON and establish a £2.7m Translational Development Fund.

The research fund is being set up in response to a growing need for new and innovative treatments and diagnostic technologies to help tackle growing threats to health across the globe, including neglected tropical diseases and emerging viral threats.

The COVID pandemic highlighted the impact new viruses can have on our society and this new fund will support the progression of potential interventions, including diagnostics, treatments and devices. Infectious diseases currently cause millions of deaths globally each year with the impact expected to worsen due to factors such as climate change, migration and intensive farming.

The fund will be available to LSTM and iiCON partners and their collaborators, including research organisations in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), and will have a focus supporting interventions that are appropriately aligned with deployment and treatment of patients in LMICs.

As well as the fund investment, LifeArc will make its antibody humanisation platform available to iiCON and its collaborators, to support the development of new potential treatments. Antibodies can trigger the immune system to help treat disease, and this platform enables promising antibodies from lab research to be modified, so that they can be used in people. LifeArc’s expertise and track record of success has helped transform the way many conditions are treated, with more than 90 antibodies humanised over the past 30 years, contributing to five licenced medicines.

LifeArc’s expertise will be made available commercially to any organisation domestically or internationally via a new platform at iiCON. This platform has been designed to provide partners and researchers in the field with streamlined access to LifeArc’s leading capabilities.

iiCON is a consortium led by LSTM with core partners including LifeArc, Unilever, Evotec, Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, University of Liverpool, and Infex Therapeutics. The c£250 million programme brings together industry, academia, and clinicians to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of new treatments and innovations– saving and improving millions of lives through collaborative innovation.

Professor David Lalloo, Director of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine said:

“This Translational Development Fund will not only help us to tackle the true diseases of poverty that impact the lives of some of the world’s poorest communities, but also allow us to prepare for the emerging threats of the future. This partnership between LSTM, LifeArc and iiCON will provide a number of significant opportunities for businesses, researchers and clinicians working in the antibody humanisation space and beyond. Facilitating access to advanced capabilities and new collaborations in this way will be a real boost to getting new therapies to market by helping overcome development obstacles and unlocking the potential of new innovations.”

Professor Janet Hemingway, Founding Director of the Infection Innovation Consortium: iiCON, said:

“Working with LifeArc to create a new platform focused on antibody humanisation marks an exciting milestone for both iiCON and for the development of tomorrow’s medical therapies. Our approaches to infectious disease research, prevention, and control are very closely aligned and we’re looking forward to seeing the vital breakthroughs that this collaboration will progress.

“The partnership with LifeArc underlines a core aspect of our mission at iiCON, which is to connect the dots across the health and life sciences sector to ensure that the best ideas and the newest technologies get the support they need to achieve significant, real-world results.”

Dr Mike Strange, Head of Global Health at LifeArc, said:

“LifeArc is committed to investing over £100 million in global health, with a focus on infectious diseases, over the coming years. We are delighted that partnering with LSTM and iiCON is part of this. The consortium’s aim of accelerating the discovery and development of innovative new treatments, diagnostics, and preventative products for infectious diseases, aligns with our own global health strategy. It also mirrors the remit of LifeArc – using translational science to turn lab-based discoveries into medical breakthroughs that can be life-changing for patients.”

“Our work in antibodies has had real impact for patients in other areas and we are pleased that we will also be able offer this platform and expertise to iiCON partners. We look forward to seeing what we can achieve together over the coming years.”

Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre opens to patients

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Thousands set to benefit from faster access to vital NHS tests as new Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre opens to patients

People in Liverpool will now benefit from faster access to vital tests and scans for a wide range of health conditions, with the opening of a new NHS community diagnostic centre on the Paddington Village development in Edge Hill.

The new Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre offers tests to people referred by health professionals to check for a wide range of conditions including musculoskeletal problems, gastrointestinal conditions, lung conditions and cancer. It will help them get a confirmed diagnosis so they can begin the treatment they need or to get the all-clear, putting their minds at rest.

The centre is just the first phase of a wider development transforming what was previously the privately-run Rutherford Cancer Centre North West into a first-class NHS facility for the people of Cheshire and Merseyside. In a landmark agreement in March 2023, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust acquired the building on behalf of the NHS in our region.

Initially, Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre will offer MRI and ultrasound scans as well as blood tests (phlebotomy). That will extend to CT scans from the autumn once a new scanner has been installed and commissioned. Future phases will see it expand with additional services, further boosting NHS diagnostic capacity in response to local demand.

Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) provide the NHS with additional capacity to carry out vital tests and scans in locations away from the pressures of a busy acute hospital providing emergency care.

Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre is the eighth CDC to open in Cheshire and Merseyside, which has been at the vanguard of rolling out the new centres as part of a national NHS England programme supported by government funding.

St Helens was the first CDC to open nationally, closely followed by Clatterbridge Diagnostics in Wirral. Cheshire and Merseyside now has CDCs in Ellesmere Port, Liverpool Women’s, Northwich, Southport and Halton, with two more on the way: one in Congleton and one at Shopping City in Runcorn.

Together, the new CDCs in Cheshire and Merseyside have already delivered 250,000 additional tests and scans for the NHS than would have been possible without them – a figure that will rise to 318,000 in 2023/24. That’s important because demand has grown year on year.

The number of diagnostic tests performed now is double what it was five years ago, with more than 100,000 carried out each month in Cheshire and Merseyside and demand keeps rising. It means CDCs are an essential tool in cutting waiting times and supporting earlier, faster diagnosis. 

Dr Liz Bishop, Chief Executive of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Responsible Officer for Diagnostics in Cheshire and Merseyside, said: 

“People in Liverpool are more likely to experience ill health than the national average so it’s particularly important that they can get the tests they need when symptoms develop.

“Faster and earlier access to tests thanks to community diagnostic centres like this will mean people with potentially serious conditions – and those living with pain or other symptoms – can get diagnosed and start treatment more quickly, giving them a better quality of life and a better chance of a successful outcome.

“Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre will help people with many different kinds of health conditions and we feel a real responsibility as a leading specialist trust to develop services like this that support the wider NHS and the communities we serve across Cheshire and Merseyside.”

Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director at NHS England – North West, said:

“We know that rapid diagnosis saves lives, and the opening of this new facility at the Paddington Village will mean thousands more patients can get life-saving tests, checks and scans in the heart of the community, without having to travel to the hospital.

“This new community diagnostics centre will help address disparities in health within the wider community and decrease the demand for referrals and hospital visits, easing the pressure on hospital facilities.

“It is another fantastic step to ensure that the NHS is making a positive difference to the way the people of Liverpool and beyond receive care.”

Professor Rowan Pritchard Jones, Medical Director for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:

“We are one of the few health systems in the country to have a dedicated programme to improve diagnostics and we welcome the opening of this additional Community Diagnostics Centre for Cheshire and Merseyside as part of that work, helping us to give patients much quicker access to the tests and scans they need. We know that diagnosing patients as soon as possible can lead to better treatment outcomes, which is why centres like this one in Paddington Village are so important.”

Tracey Cole, Diagnostics Programme Director for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:

“Excellent healthcare can only be provided once a patient has a diagnosis. Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre will help ensure that everyone in Cheshire and Merseyside has fast access to the tests they need in a setting local to them. Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre will see all types of patients, not just those who could have cancer. We want patients who are offered an appointment to take up their offer so that we can either rule out anything to be concerned about or be offered treatment if it is required.”

About The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading cancer centres, serving a population of 2.4m in Cheshire & Merseyside and surrounding areas including the Isle of Man and parts of Lancashire.

We provide highly-specialist services including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy. Our unique networked model includes three Clatterbridge Cancer Centres (Liverpool, Wirral and Aintree), Clatterbridge clinics in other hospitals, and our multi-award-winning Clatterbridge in the Community service treating patients at home.

Our flagship Liverpool hospital opened in June 2020 with state-of-the-art facilities including 110 individual inpatient rooms, stem cell transplant, radiology, a Teenage & Young Adult Unit, clinical therapies, and a wide range of cancer information and support.

We are also a leading research centre with an extensive portfolio of clinical trials including early phase and first-in-human (Phase 1). We are part of Liverpool ECMC (experimental cancer medicine centre), a Biomedical Research Centre with The Royal Marsden, and Liverpool CRF (clinical research facility).

About CDCs in Cheshire and Merseyside

Eight community diagnostic centres (CDCs) have now opened in Cheshire and Merseyside since the programme launched in 2021:

  • Ellesmere Port – Ellesmere Port Hospital (run by Countess of Chester Hospital)
  • Liverpool – Liverpool Women’s Hospital (run by Liverpool Women’s)
  • Northwich – Victoria Infirmary (run by Mid Cheshire Hospitals)
  • Paddington – Paddington Village (run by The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre)
  • Runcorn – Halton Hospital (run by Warrington and Halton Hospitals)
  • Southport – Southport Hospital (run by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals)
  • St Helens – St Helens Hospital (run by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals)
  • Wirral – Clatterbridge (run by a partnership between The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and Wirral University Teaching Hospital)

Two more are due to open by the end of 2023/24: one in Congleton and one at Shopping City in Runcorn.