Life Sciences

Oxfordshire is one of Europe’s most successful Life Sciences clusters with a track record in establishing and attracting world leading life sciences businesses.

The world-leading Oxfordshire life sciences and healthcare sector:

The Oxfordshire Life Sciences and Healthcare cluster spans a whole range of life sciences enterprise including drug discovery and development, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health, regenerative medicine, precision medicine and genomics. With world-leading research and teaching providing the ideas and talent to develop ground-breaking new technologies, we also operate as a global powerhouse for clinical trials.

To find out more by downloading our Oxfordshire Life Sciences and Healthcare Sector brochure and find out more on:

• How Oxfordshire is part of the UK’s ‘Golden Triangle’, forming an area of significant economic growth and expertise in Life Sciences and Health, alongside Cambridge and London
• The cluster of Life Sciences and Healthcare companies in Oxfordshire providing a critical mass that spurs innovation through extensive multidisciplinary collaboration
• Our many national assets, including the Rosalind Franklin Research Institute, Diamond Light Source and STFC’s Central Laser Facility at Harwell Campus and the Structural Genomics Consortium
• The Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy which positions the county as one of the top-three global innovation ecosystems. It highlights Oxfordshire’s world-leading science and technology cluster and its unsurpassed potential to be a pioneer for the UK through its emerging transformative technologies and sectors
• The world-leading spinouts from the University of Oxford including; Oxford Nanopore, Immunocore and Adaptimmune, as well as foreign-owned companies who have expanded or established operations in Oxfordshire recently include; Novo Nordisk, Intuitive Surgical, Abbott Diabetes Care, Intrexon, Evotec, Sysmex, Agilent and Vertex

Download: 'Oxfordshire Life Sciences and Healthcare: Invest in a world-beating innovation ecosystem'

Oxfordshire's world-leading response to COVID-19:

In January 2020, when COVID-19 was still unknown to much of the world, Oxfordshire’s scientists were already working on a response.

The county’s well-established life sciences ecosystem – which includes pioneering academic and medical institutions, unique research establishments, and hundreds of biomedical companies – was able to mobilise immediately.

Oxfordshire is world-renowned for our work in medicine, research and diagnostics, and has a long-held expertise in vaccinology and immunology. Throughout 2020, our collaborative, innovative and pioneering approach has led the way in the fight against Coronavirus.

Oxfordshire’s response has included:

• Virology, genomics and structural biology research
• Vaccine and treatment research, clinical trials and manufacturing
• Diagnostics development
• Data, digital services and shared information
• Medical devices

On 4 January 2021, at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital, 82-year-old Brian Pinker became the first patient to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. By that day, more than half a million doses of the vaccine were ready for use and the UK government had ordered a further 100 million doses – enough for most of the UK population.

It was a significant landmark for a vaccine whose development had begun the previous January – and for a process that normally takes years.

Our publication 'Oxfordshire's response to the global pandemic - a life sciences ecosystem in action', tells the story of the many ways in which Oxfordshire’s life sciences sector is responding to the pandemic. The life sciences clusters in Oxfordshire, who are all playing a role in the fight against COVID-19, comprise the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus (now also a Life Sciences Opportunities Zone), Culham Science Centre, Oxford Science Park, Old Road Campus, Milton Park and Begbroke Science Park.

Download: 'Oxfordshire's response to the global pandemic: A life sciences ecosystem in action'

Oxford-Cambridge Arc: Leading the UK's global life sciences

Oxfordshire is part of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc – a global hub for innovation with a critical mass of research, technology expertise and innovation assets found nowhere else in the UK.

Watch this video about our expertise in Life Sciences across the Arc.

 WATCH: Oxford-Cambridge Arc: Leading the UK's global life sciences

 Should you have questions about investment, innovation or collaboration, and wish to be put in touch with any of the organisations or individuals mentioned, please contact Sebastian Johnson, our head of innovation and investment.

Email Sebastian Johnson