The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF)

Your company

To be eligible for the fund, your company must be:

• A UK registered company 

• A wholly private sector business

•  A product developer, contract development manufacturing organisation, or a generics manufacturer.

Your project  

To be eligible for the fund, your project must:

• Have a total cost (capital and non-capital costs) of at least £8 million

• Be located in the UK

• Be primarily a capital investment

• Be a single company investment (as opposed to forming a partnership between companies or other types of organisations)

• Require only the amount of grant requested to proceed. For example, without the specific amount of funding you are requesting your project wouldn’t go ahead or go ahead at a smaller scale, go ahead overseas or would be significantly delayed (3 years or more)

• Be a manufacturing project for the manufacture of:

  • Human medicines (this includes both the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) / drug substance and finished product / drug product)

  • Medical diagnostics – for both disease identification and monitoring

  • MedTech products – all types of medical devices related to human health.

The fund is open to applications for MHRA-licenced medicines, medical and diagnostic devices registered with the MHRA, and products in development where approval to market or manufacture the medicine or device in the UK is intended to be sought for commercial scale-up, for example a manufacturing project for clinical trials or investigational studies.

• Manufacturing facilities are required to work to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and the facility be intended to support clinical and/or commercial manufacture of API or drug product.

• Manufacturers of medicinal diagnostics and medical devices must confirm that their device meets or intends to meet the requirements of the Medical Devices Regulations 2002.

Projects relating to the following are not eligible for funding from LSIMF:

•        Veterinary medicine

•        Herbal medicines

•        Nutritional supplements or vitamins

•        Raw ingredients (e.g solvents, buffers and cleaning agents)

•        The production of single-use consumables that are not integrated into a larger product (e.g manufacturing syringes independently from diagnostic kits)

•        Secondary packaging for products or materials (e.g package inserts, labelling and boxes).

Your project must align with the objectives of the fund:

• To increase UK health resilience by strengthening the UK’s manufacturing capacity and capability. We define health resilience as the UK’s ability to withstand and recover from health emergencies such as pandemics, long-term healthcare challenges and supply chain disruption.

• To create economic opportunity through investments that will make a substantial contribution to Gross Value Added (GVA) and provide high-wage, high-skilled jobs around the UK.

For example, your project may improve health resilience by supporting or demonstrating:

• A broad spectrum increase in domestic manufacturing capacity and capability that supports UK health resilience 

• Enhanced flexibility of manufacturing capability that can be redeployed or scaled during a health emergency.

30 October 2024 – LSIMF opens for EOIs and will continue to accept EOIs on a rolling basis.   

April 2025 – first grants awarded to successful projects.

LSIMF is now open for EOIs. Please click the button above to complete and submit your EOI form. 

If you have any questions, please contact LSIMF@officeforlifesciences.gov.uk. 

The LSIMF application process is comprised of three parts:

• The Expression of Interest (EOI) – we will use the EOI to evaluate your basic eligibility and identify projects that align with the Fund objectives. Eligible projects will be invited to the next stage.

• Health resilience assessment – we will assess the health resilience benefits of your project:

  • Application form 1 – eligible applicants will be invited to complete application form 1. Here, you will be asked to describe the health resilience benefits of your project. This stage is assessed by a panel of cross-government officials.

  • Panel interview – applicants will also be invited to give a brief presentation on your project and it’s health resilience benefits followed by a Q&A. This will be hosted by the panel of manufacturing experts, who will further assess the health resilience benefits of the project.

• Financial and economic assessment

  • Application form 2 – applicants who are successful following the health resilience assessment will be invited to complete application form 2. Questions will cover eligibility, company and project specifics and financial information, markets and economic impacts and project risks​. You will be required to provide further documentation to evidence your company’s financial position, eligibility and project viability.

  • Due diligence - We will assess whether your grant request offers good value for money, ensure compatibility with subsidy control regulations, validate what would happen without a grant, and confirm the project’s deliverability, employment outputs and your ability to finance it. You may be required to provide further documentation to evidence your company’s financial position, eligibility and project deliverability

Throughout the application process, it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure:

• All information provided in the application is current and correct

• Your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria

• All sections of the application forms are complete

• In the event multiple colleagues are collaborating on the application, that all partners have completed their assigned section(s) and accepted the terms and conditions.

Subsidy control

All grant awards will be made under Section 7 or 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/52/contents.

LSIMF provides funding in line with the UK's subsidy control obligations and commitments.

This scheme is UK-wide. Applications deemed in scope of the Windsor Framework – for example because the projects are located in Northern Ireland or are deemed to affect the trade of goods between Northern Ireland and the European Union – will be subject to European Commission State aid rules, under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Other applications will be subject to the UK subsidy regime, as set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

If your application is successful, recovery of funds would be required in the event of non-compliance with subsidy control requirements.

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.