UK ATMP Advantage: Turn a Connected NHS into Faster Trials

Captured live at Advanced Therapies Europe, this session distills how the UK’s integrated ecosystem, NHS delivery model, and catapult infrastructure help developers move from lab to first-in-human faster.

TL;DR

In a hurry? Here are the essentials at a glance:

• Use the connected UK ecosystem to translate assets from discovery to clinic.

• Leverage the NHS for streamlined contracts and national trial delivery.

• Place decentralized manufacturing within NHS networks to protect fresh-product timelines.

• Work with Catapult and ATTC for venture-building support, skills programs, and clinical acceleration.

• Look beyond London: strong capacity and talent sit across Scotland, the North, and the Midlands.

• Align capacity with workforce: invest in operators, digital, and automation skills.

• Choose NHSBT and academic partners when transparency and patient-first alignment matter.

• Keep cost of goods in sight to make access viable post-approval.

Session summary with Ella Churchill, Insights Manager Life Sciences, MedCity; Terri Gaskell, CTO, Rinri Therapeutics; Emily Merrell, Director, Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre (ATTC) Network, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult; and Laura Murray, Head of Business Development, NHS Blood & Transplant

Start with the ecosystem

The UK advantage is system-level: discovery hubs, clinical centers, and national infrastructure that talk to each other. London anchors formation and early funding, then programs scale across the country: one in three European cell and gene therapy companies sit in the UK, around a third of those in London, and a large share of seed-stage capital lands there before companies expand to Stevenage, Bristol, Scotland, and the North. Trials are rising too, with industry-sponsored gene therapy alongside center-led cell therapy from institutions such as Great Ormond Street, UCL, and Imperial. The UK also accounts for a meaningful slice of global advanced therapy trials and was first in Europe to adopt personalized cancer medicines.

Developers get clear entry points, visible capabilities, and partners who help refine target product profiles, de-risk CMC, and bridge academic innovation into clinical readiness.

Use the NHS as a platform

A single national health system reduces friction on site selection, contracts, and budgets. With national frameworks and combined budgets, teams can agree terms with a lead site, then extend consistently across participating centers. That structure shortens startup times and aligns operations for first-in-human studies.

Regulatory cadence supports this approach. In session it was noted that combined reviews complete at pace, which helps early programs keep momentum from manufacturing slot to first dose.

Put geography to work

Short distances and dense coverage make fresh-product logistics realistic and support decentralized manufacturing close to care.

With additional NHSBT sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Bristol, developers can cover nearly the whole UK for GMP, therapeutic apheresis, processing, cryopreservation, and issue back into NHS trusts. Compared with long-haul US routes and weather exposure, UK geography removes hours of risk from fresh autologous schedules and simplifies contingency planning.

Tap catapult support and novel funding

Catapult works both bottom up and later stage: venture-building for academic spinouts, targeted in-kind expertise for growing biotechs, and selective seed investments to bridge to institutional rounds. The goal is simple: de-risk assets before they enter the clinic.

With life sciences named in the UK industrial strategy, expect more consortium-style and early-stage mechanisms that reward translation, not just discovery, so teams can progress from concept to first-in-human without leaving the ecosystem.

Choose NHSBT when mission matters

NHSBT and similar NHS-embedded groups offer GMP services with hospital integration, patient-first alignment, and transparent governance. That is especially valuable for early programs, grant-funded work, and decentralized models that rely on tight links to NHS trusts.

Traceability, ethics, and cost transparency are built into the model, which can make the difference between a viable early trial and one that stalls on budget or oversight.

Balance capacity and workforce

Facility build-out has been significant. The constraint now is people, plus practical skills to run, release, and scale consistently.

Expect more flexible CDMO arrangements and collaboration on development, not just slots. As service providers feel a softer pipeline, joint development plans, clear comparability strategies, and shared operator training can keep both capacity and programs moving.

Look beyond the Golden Triangle

London remains the funding and HQ magnet, yet manufacturing, testing, and clinical delivery are distributed and cost-effective outside the southeast. Scotland’s central belt, Manchester, Sheffield, and other regions combine capability, university partnerships, and lower operating costs.

For teams hiring operators and securing GMP space, these regions offer faster timelines and strong retention, while keeping programs inside the national network.

Workforce readiness is rising through apprenticeships, skills labs, and national programs aimed at operators, site teams, and the public.

ATTC’s national competencies and patient, public awareness work address two needs at once: sites that are genuinely trial-ready, and communities that understand and support innovative therapies when they reach the clinic.

The next five years should normalize ATMPs, keep the UK attractive for first-in-human, and convert trial momentum into approvals while tackling cost of goods.

The UK’s strength is connective tissue: a health system that can scale trials, regulators who understand ATMPs, and national programs that develop people as much as products. Pair that with transparent NHS-embedded partners and focused catapult support, and you can move from discovery to first-in-human with fewer handoffs and faster decisions. Keep capacity and workforce in balance, and this ecosystem will deliver not just pilots, but durable patient access.

Keep the momentum: join the community at Advanced Therapies Week 2026 in San Diego, February 9 to 12, 2026. 

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