Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub
The Hub addressed the manufacturing, business and regulatory challenges to ensure that new targeted biological medicines can be developed quickly and manufactured at a cost affordable to society.
Legacy & Impact (2017–2024)
The Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing (FTHM) Hub, led by UCL with five Spoke universities and over 45 industrial collaborators, transformed the UK’s capability to design, develop and manufacture advanced biotherapeutics for personalised and stratified medicines.
From 2017–2024, the FTHM Hub delivered digital decisional tools, experimental bioprocess innovations, regulatory insights and national workforce development that continue to influence the sector.
Valued at over £20m, the FTHM Hub delivered 40+ industry-academic feasibility studies, 100+ events, 40+ policy dialogues, 200+ impactful papers, and trained 28 early-career researchers - leaving a legacy of innovation, collaboration, and skilled leaders driving future biotherapeutics.
Our research spanned targeted protein therapeutics, viral vector gene therapies, antibody–drug conjugates, mRNA platforms, and truly personalised CAR-T cell therapies.
Awards & Recognition
The Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub received the BIA Richard Wilson Impact Award (2025) in recognition of its transformative impact across the biopharmaceutical and advanced therapy sectors. It was also Highly Commended in the IChemE Global Awards 2025 (Research Project category) recognising excellence in research with real-world application.
THE FTHM HUB MISSION AND MEMBERS
THE FTHM HUB IN NUMBERS DASHBOARD
Industrial Impact
- 40+ industry-academic feasibility studies, applying Hub tools to real industrial challenges.
- Ipsen: Up to 35% manufacturing cost savings, 18 man-months development time saved, leading to further investment in cell-free synthesis.
- Pharmaron: Hub-supported analytics expanded AAV formulation capabilities, enabling higher-dose formulations for broader therapeutic application.
- Albumedix: Hub study identified a rapid, energy-efficient alternative to lyophilisation, leading to a joint PhD programme (Nottingham-UCL-Albumedix).
- Oxford Biomedica & BIA: Hub evidence supported the successful case for the £18m Gene Therapy Innovation Hubs.
National Policy & Strategy Influence
- G7 100 Days Mission: Hub findings cited in the report and informed global cost-targets for monoclonal antibodies for pandemic preparedness in a roundtable chaired by Sir Patrick Vallance.
- MHRA regulatory innovation: Hub workshops shaped the regulatory framework for point-of-care ATMP manufacture.
- BIA MAC Sustainability: Hub LCAs and PMI benchmarks informed national sustainability priorities for advanced therapies.
- HMT: Treasury engagement: informing Government understanding of ATMP process economics and health economics.
Technical Innovation (for mAbs, ADCs, CAR-T, AAV, LV, mRNA)
- Digital decisional tools for cost, supply chain, sustainability, regulatory readiness, reimbursement.
- Novel platforms for cell-free synthesis, continuous CAR-T culture, ML-enabled formulation, microfluidic analytics.
Skills & Workforce Legacy
- 28 PDRAs, 160+ aligned PhDs, and 4 new MBI CPD courses derived from Hub research.
- Over 1,000 professionals trained across Hub activities and CPD delivery.
A National Legacy
The Hub leaves lasting tools, evidence for investment, technical solutions, and a skilled workforce. Its vision continues through UCL’s Advanced Genomic Therapy Centre.
THE FTHM SPECIALIST WORKING GROUPS
Contact and Co-Directors:
- Professor Suzanne Farid, CBE, FREng, FIChemE – Professor of Bioprocess Systems Engineering, Head of Department
- Professor Paul Dalby, FRSC – Professor of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology
- For more information email: fthmhub@ucl.ac.uk
