Bath ASU Awarded Knowledge Transfer Programme Funding

The University of Bath and local company Bath ASU has been awarded funding, under central government’s Knowledge Transfer Programme, for a product development programme relating to the shelf life of intravenous cancer therapies.

The Knowledge Transfer Programme is designed to encourage the transfer of knowledge and technical skills, stimulate and enhance business-relevant research and enhance the business and specialist skills of recently qualified graduates. It is a part-government funded programme whereby a company contributes between a third and a half of the project cost and the government provides the rest.

Chris Watt, Director of Support Services at Bath ASU, says: “We are delighted to be building on our existing collaboration with the University of Bath, the Knowledge Transfer Programme will further facilitate an exchange of knowledge and technical skills between our two organisations in developing the next generation of intravenous patient cancer therapies.”

Dr Andrew Watts, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, will lead the KTP in providing specialist academic knowledge of the chemical complexity of this drug class to extend the shelf life for Antibody Drug Conjugates, enabling Bath ASU to manufacture many doses together, reducing waste, improving product quality, and increasing supply to the NHS.

Bath ASU began life at the University of Bath in 2001 becoming independent in 2006. The Company currently employs over 100 people in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products in its facilities in Corsham. Bath ASU has extensive partnership arrangements in place with the University including a full time PhD student and a separate Research Collaboration Agreement. The company’s work also forms the basis of one of the University’s case studies in its Research Excellence Framework – the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.