Precision Healthcare Technologies Accelerator joins our January 'Science Cities' forum

Image: courtesy of Birmingham Health Innovation Campus showing PHTA building centre foreground with the University of Birmingham Edgbaston Campus top right, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital top left

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Professor Gino Martini, CEO of Precision Healthcare Technologies Accelerator (PHTA Ltd) is to join our 'Science Cities' discussion event at Said Business School, University of Oxford, this January.

Birmingham Health Innovation Campus - BHIC - is the world-leading life sciences campus which will be home to the PHTA. It will provide innovation facilities in the heart of Birmingham’s critical cluster of health excellence. Phase 1 of the ten-year masterplan will offer 133,000 sq ft of premium lab and office space for forward-thinking businesses in the health and life sciences sector.

A major link in the region’s life science ecosystem, BHIC will provide unique opportunities for collaboration between clinical and academic experts, and will offer national and international leadership in key areas of healthcare innovation including biopharma, precision medicine and genomics.It will become the only science park in the region dedicated to health and life sciences, sitting at the heart of a critical cluster of health excellence, led by Birmingham Health Partners, creating opportunities for transformative collaborations between businesses, the University and NHS partners.

Gino joined PHTA Ltd from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) where he held the role of Chief Scientist for more than three years.

With extensive experience in oncology, rare and infectious diseases, and drug development, Gino also brings expertise in policy development and external advocacy to his appointment in Birmingham.

An experienced academic, Gino has also held senior development and advisory positions within industry, including GSK, Roche and SmithKline Beecham.

PHTA’s Industry Trials Hub is pioneering changes to the relationship between academic clinical trials and industry partners; a collaborative approach accelerating innovation from trials to clinical implementation.

The Industry Trials Hub introduces a new way for industry to partner with our UKCRC-accredited unit on both early phase trials and practice-changing registration level clinical trials.

By collaborating with the PHTA, industry partners will work together with the specialist trial management teams to develop the trial – answering research questions in areas of  unmet medical need and generating data that can contribute to the licencing of a drug or regulatory approval of a device.

Gino has recently commented on the future for life sciences in the West Midlands:

'The West Midlands has easily comparable assets to those in the Golden Triangle. We have excellent universities, hospitals, and research institutions, but we do not always get the same level of recognition. The Golden Triangle is well-known to investors, and we must do more to promote what is happening here. One area where we are making a significant contribution is in providing more space for scaling up. There is a shortage of life science laboratories and space for SMEs, but initiatives like the PHTA address that.

'We also see unique advantages in how we encourage collaboration. For instance, Oxford Science Enterprises, which translates IP into valuable outcomes, has created a fund for investing in companies. We are adopting a similar approach with a venture capital fund called Midlands Mindforge, which will be transformational for our region.'