Medicines Discovery Catapult


The Medicines Discovery Catapult is the United Kingdom's catapult centre for medicine research and innovation, headquartered at Alderley Park in Cheshire.

History

The MTC was announced by the Chancellor on 13 July 2015 with funding of £5m, on a visit to Cheshire. It would be part of the Northern Powerhouse.
The MDC started as the Medicines Technologies Catapult on 23 December 2015. On 1 March 2016 its name changed to the Medicines Discovery Catapult. On 18 January 2016 Professor Graham Boulnois was appointed chairman, staying until June 2016; he was head of research from 1992 to 2000 at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in Cheshire, and Professor of Microbiology from 1984 to 1992 at the University of Leicester.

Precision Medicine Catapult

The PMC was based in Cambridge and had regional centres of excellence at Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff, Oxford, Leeds and Manchester. It worked with precision medicine. It started from April 2015, and worked with regional parts of the Diagnostic Evidence Cooperative and Academic Health Science Networks.
On 26 June 2017 it was announced that the PMC would close, with most of its functions transferred to the MDC. The Leeds site is now the Leeds Centre for Personalised Medicine and Health.