Cambridge-based international law firm Mills & Reeve advised the management team of Weetabix in Northamptonshire on its sale to US firm Post Holdings for £1.4 billion.

The sale follows on from the £1.2 billion deal in 2012 which saw Chinese company Bright Food acquire a 60 per cent stake in the iconic breakfast brand.

In 2015 the Hong Kong- based investment firm Baring Private Equity House invested in the company. Mills & Reeve advised the Weetabix management team on both deals.

Sales of Weetabix in China doubled in 2016 and it is the largest producer of breakfast cereal in the UK. Post Holdings is the third-largest cereal firm in the US and owns brands including Golden Crisp, Cocoa Pebbles and Great Grains. 

Mills & Reeve once again advised the Weetabix management team on the sale, working with other advisers in the UK, US, China and Hong Kong to enable the deal to be announced in the early hours of April 18.

Current chief executive at Weetabix, Giles Turrell, will become chairman of Weetabix on completion of the deal. He said: “This is a fantastic deal for all stakeholders, and especially the long-term future success of the company. Without question the advice, counsel and support of Anthony McGurk and his team was critical throughout the process. 

“A complex deal with multiple parties, time zones, and languages, it was the professionalism and knowledge of Anthony and his team that ensured we got across the line.”

McGurk’s team included principal associates Vanessa Walton and Ryan Hawley, associate Emily Walker and trainee Elle Outram. They were also supported by consultant Brian Marshall and partner Chris Townsend.

McGurk (pictured above) said: “This deal is great news for the Weetabix brand and will hopefully see them continue to increase their market share internationally. We are delighted to have been able to further support the Weetabix management team in this deal, having acted for them in 2012 and 2015.”

If the weather is anything to go by we are slowly starting to approach summer, which is always positive for businesses in the city of Cambridge. 

While many of the students return home for the holidays they are replaced by an influx of tourists and visitors who utilise the hotels and spend money in the shops and restaurants. 

We have seen tourist numbers increase dramatically over the last few years as Cambridge is, even more than ever, viewed by many global visitors as a must-see city and an essential part of the wider European experience. 

This. coupled with the large student body. has always helped to ensure the retail market in Cambridge has remained resilient. The historic and compact nature of the city has sometimes made it difficult for retailers to find units that are the right configuration and size but as the main shopping location in the region, this hasn’t been a significant enough deterrent to drive them further afield. 

Unlike retail rents around the UK, Cambridge rents have barely budged and even remained fairly stable during the last recession. On last review, in December 2016, rents stood at £280 per sq ft in the Grand Arcade while vacancy rates in key streets and schemes were less than five per cent. With vacancy rates so low, there is limited choice for retailers looking to move to and take space in the city centre.

Thankfully the need for new retail and leisure stock to support the growing workforce and catchment moving into the new residential and business accommodation that is being built around the city is being addressed. 

CB1 is going some way to provide that offer with a good choice of high quality retail, restaurants, and leisure space. In addition, L&G and Wrenbridge’s £20 million refurbishment and extension of the Grafton Centre to include new restaurant units and a hotel will also help. 

Retail and the way people shop has dramatically changed for shoppers over the last decade. Online shopping has become more prevalent and has been a contributing factor in a number of retailers falling into administration.

However, leisure has certainly been on the rise. Many will travel to shopping centres/locations to spend the day or evening at the cinema, visiting an attraction or trying a new restaurant as well as popping into a shop or two. This has led to landlords revaluating their retail mix and adding a considerable amount of leisure space to increase overall dwell time. The Grafton Centre and the refurbishment of the Vue Cinema are great examples of this within the main retail pitch.

Out of town retail caters more easily for this increased leisure focus. There are a small number of retail warehouse parks, of which the largest are Cambridge Retail Park and the Beehive Centre as well as Cambridge Leisure Park to the south of the city and the highly-anticipated Ely Leisure Village, which is due to open this month.

These tend to attract a wider local catchment and those that want the ease of driving without having to fight for a car parking space or pay through the roof for it, again fighting the online shopping phenomenon.

Fundamentally, whether a visitor or resident of Cambridge they all need activities to do and things to buy. With no other strong retail and leisure offer in the region the city will continue to thrive in this market and rents are set to stay resilient for the foreseeable future, despite Brexit and online retailing. Is the secret to maintaining a strong retail and leisure offer being renowned as a global tourist attraction?

Cambridge scientists believe they have identified a potential means to slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Their breakthrough coincides with the announcement of a new £250 million UK Dementia Research Institute to be part-based in the world-class science and technology cluster.

Professor Giovanna Mallucci, who led the Leicester-based research team and is now anchored at the University of Cambridge, is one of the five associate directors of the new UK Dementia Research Institute.

Her team, which had earlier identified a major pathway that leads to brain cell death in mice, have now found two repurposed drugs that block the pathway and prevent neurodegeneration. The drugs caused minimal side effects in the mice and one is already licensed for use in humans so is ready for clinical trials.

“We could know in 2-3 years whether this approach can slow down disease progression, which would be a very exciting first step in treating Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,” she said.

The research was funded by the MRC and Professor Mallucci was also backed by a grant from Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

The drugs they identified that restored protein production rates in mice were trazodone hydrochloride, a licensed antidepressant, and dibenzoylmethane, a compound being trialled as an anti-cancer drug. 

Both drugs prevented the emergence of signs of brain cell damage in most of the prion-diseased mice and restored memory in the FTD mice. In both mouse models, the drugs reduced brain shrinkage which is a feature of neurodegenerative disease.

Professor Mallucci said: “We know that trazodone is safe to use in humans, so a clinical trial is now possible to test whether the protective effects of the drug we see on brain cells in mice with neurodegeneration also applies to people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

“We could know in 2-3 years whether this approach can slow down disease progression, which would be a very exciting first step in treating these disorders. Interestingly, trazodone has been used to treat the symptoms of patients in later stages of dementia, so we know it is safe for this group. We now need to find out whether giving the drug to patients at an early stage could help arrest or slow down the disease through its effects on this pathway.”

The breakthrough coincides with the the University of Cambridge being unveiled as one of the centres that will form the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) alongside Cardiff University, the University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The UK DRI is a joint £250 million investment into dementia research led by the Medical Research Council alongside founding charity partners Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Established in response to the Government’s 2020 Challenge on Dementia, the DRI’s mission is to find new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent and care for people with dementias – a group of neurodegenerative disorders which include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.

Each centre will be led by an associate director and up to four programme leaders who will lead the centre’s foundation programmes. The centres have been awarded a total of 20 professorships and seven fellowships in the foundation phase, to build momentum in the institute.

The centres have a biomedical focus, and care research will also be integrated into the institute next year.

The Cambridge centre will be led by Professor Mallucci, who added: “We are very excited about the opportunity for Cambridge to be part of the UK DRI. Our centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus will focus on interdisciplinary science, building on our University’s strengths across research areas from chemistry and biophysics through to cell biology of neurodegeneration.”

Science Minister Jo Johnson added: “Dementia affects millions of people around the world but through greater understanding we can make significant steps forward to improve lives. Today’s announcement of the institute’s centre locations demonstrates the UK’s existing wealth of knowledge and research expertise, and the leadership role we can take in developing new treatments to tackle this disease.”

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Giovanna in her lab at the MRC Toxicology Unit at the University of Leicester. Image courtesy – Medical Research Council

Californian giant BioMed Realty is spreading its Cambridge UK investment footprint by injecting £35 million into the construction of new laboratories and offices at Babraham Research Campus.

Already backing the expansion of Granta Park, the San Diego company – now a Blackstone portfolio business – has signed a long-term lease on approximately eight acres of BBSRC-owned land at the Babraham Research Campus. 

The investment will enable the ground-up construction of two new buildings for growing bioscience-based companies at the campus.

The Babraham Research Campus is a leading hub of bioscience research and innovation that supports early stage and growing biomedical enterprises. At the centre of the campus is the world-class Babraham Institute, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC and BBT, its trading subsidiary, through which the campus is being managed and further developed.

Derek Jones, BBT chief executive, said: “Over the years, we have had a very good relationship with BioMed Realty at Granta Park, recognising the potential synergies between the two sites. 

“This is a natural extension of that relationship. This inward investment in buildings on the site will support those growing scale-up companies who wish to be part of our campus community but are seeking larger premises than we are currently able to provide.

“We are excited by the opportunities this brings to continue to grow and develop the campus and to support the world-leading life science businesses in the Cambridge region.”

BioMed Realty, a leading provider of real estate solutions to the life science industry, owns and operates an existing presence in Cambridge at its Granta Park campus. 

The company plans to invest approximately £35 million to construct two buildings at Babraham comprising around 108,000 sq ft of integrated laboratory and office facilities. 

The buildings will host life science companies requiring grow-on space and take advantage of the distinct environment and community at the campus.  After construction, which is anticipated to begin by the end of 2017 and be completed in the second quarter of 2019, it is expected that BBT will manage the property on behalf of BioMed Realty.
 
Tim Schoen, CEO and president of BioMed Realty, said: “We are very excited about our partnership with BBSRC and the BBT to expand the Babraham Research Campus and our presence in the world-renowned Cambridge UK life science marke.

“Our commitment to Cambridge was forged in 2012 at Granta Park, which we have since enlarged by 250,000 sq ft. We pledge to assemble the strongest, most knowledgeable team in the industry to deliver exceptional, state-of-the-art research facilities to foster the ground-breaking science happening at the Babraham Research Campus.”

Owlstone Medical in Cambridge, which has invented a breathalyser to detect early-stage cancer, is collaborating with the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in the US on a colonoscopy initiative.

The UK company’s FAIMS technology is being used in a clinical trial to evaluate its performance as a rapid, point-of-care test to non-invasively assess the adequacy of bowel preparation prior to colonoscopy.

Mayo Clinic is a world-leading non-profit medical practice, education, and medical research group.  

Colonoscopies are one of the most common gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures with approximately 14 million procedures performed annually in the US. It is estimated that up to a quarter of these procedures have inadequate bowel preparation, resulting in the need for repeat colonoscopies or increasing the risk that diagnosis of disease, such as colorectal cancer, will be missed.

In a pilot study, volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers emitted from pre-procedural stool samples were captured and analysed using Owlstone Medical’s ATLAS Headspace Sampler and Lonestar VOC Analyzer, a Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer (FAIMS) sensor platform. 

Results demonstrated that the company’s technology is able to rapidly and effectively identify patients inadequately prepped for colonoscopy with 100 per cent sensitivity and 80 per cent specificity.

Following the successful pilot study, Mayo Clinic and Owlstone Medical have embarked on a larger clinical trial under the guidance of gastroenterologists, Liam Zakko, M.D. and Kenneth Wang, M.D. 

The trial aims to evaluate FAIMS technology as a pre-endoscopic test to ensure that colonoscopies are only performed when patients are adequately prepped, thus reducing the number of unsuccessful colonoscopy procedures and enabling disease such as colorectal cancer to be diagnosed more effectively. The results of the pilot study are to be presented at Digestive Disease Week 2017 in Chicago on May 6-9.

Billy Boyle (pictured), co-founder and CEO at Owlstone Medical, said: “It is a privilege to be working with one of the leading cancer centres in the US and to have achieved such promising results from our initial pilot study together.

“The work not only validates our technology for use in clinical practice but also demonstrates its scope for wide medical application using other biospecimens in addition to breath.” 

Minaam Abbas is yet to start his PhD, but he is already co-founder of two businesses – one of which could transform how cancer is treated.

Minaam, who will begins his PhD at Cambridge this autumn as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, is chief operating officer of angioClast, a company aiming to develop drugs that can target blood vessels in the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

He is also co-founder of Hazina, a social enterprise that aims to turn microfinance on its head by cutting out the middle man and providing an alternative credit rating for the smallest businesses, while also teaching financial literacy. Hazina has presented its ideas internationally, most recently in Dubai, and plans to launch in various countries in the next two years.

Minaam’s PhD will focus on the new field of epitranscriptomics, looking at how RNA can be modified and how these modifications can be used to fight cancer.

Minaam was born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan. Both of his parents are doctors – his father an gastroenterologist and his mother a GP. Despite being drawn more towards physics and chemistry at school because of their emphasis on discovery, he found himself increasingly interested in biology. Minaam got involved with some of his father’s research projects and from his mother’s work, he developed an interest in bioethics and wider policy issues. Another inspiration has been his younger brother Sarim who is studying computer science at Yale and whose insight into technological developments have played a big role in Minaam’s entrepreneurial work.

The University of Cambridge had always been in his sights since he developed an interest in science. The headmistress at his school had attended the university and told her students about it, almost every major scientific discovery Minaam learnt about seemed to have happened in Cambridge. It was also one of just a few universities to offer the MB/PhD programme he was interested in.

“It seemed the perfect combination of what a university should be. I wanted to be a doctor and do academic research,” he said.

His interview didn’t go to plan, though. He was unable a visa in time, but his college agreed to do the interview via Skype. When he was offered a place he also had problems securing funding. Pakistan had a scholarship fund for Cambridge at the time to mark the university’s 800th anniversary, but not for medical students. A couple of local business people agreed to comtribute towards his fees. His college, St John’s was also supportive.

 The first two of Minaam’s six year course were pre-clinical and in his third year he specialised in neuroscience. This was in large part due to an exchange programme he took part in with Caltech in his second year. There he worked in the Richard Anderson laboratory which is doing pioneering work on brain machine interfaces, for instance, getting people to move prosthetic limbs using brain signals. Minaam’s research involved analysing how individual neurons compute movement from sensors hooked up to the brain. On his return to Cambridge Minaam did his third-year thesis on the data collected at the laboratory.

At the same time Minaam was getting involved in medical entrepreneurship. He had taken part in the National Institutes of Health’s Neuro START-UP Challenge in his second year. Minaam’s team chose to focus on the discovery of biomarkers on the inside of cancer blood vessels in Glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most aggressive forms of brain tumour. Patients diagnosed with the tumour tend to die within one to two years of being diagnosed and the two chemotherapy treatments currently available are fairly blunt instruments to deal with it.

The team decided they might be able to starve the cancer of nutrients by developing a treatment that could target the cancer blood vessels. Their research has recently shown the technique could significantly reduce tumour size. “It’s a huge breakthrough,” says Minaam.

With help from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School’s accelerator programme the company, angioClast, has been a finalist in several biotech competitions, including Pitch@Palace. The competitions brought international exposure and mentors, including AstraZeneca which has helped angioClast to make significant progress. They are seeking to raise money over the coming months to help them conduct the experiments to get the investment they need to turn the research into a therapeutic treatment.

“There is huge excitement and momentum due to the breakthrough we have made,” says Minaam.

With his interest in research impact and entrepreneurship, Minaam applied to work at Professor Tony Kouzarides’ laboratory in Cambridge for his PhD. He was drawn by the opportunity to do pioneering research in epitranscriptomics – he will look at how RNA molecules can be modified based on their cell environment and how this applies to stem cells and oncology – and by the laboratory’s emphasis on biotech entrepreneurship. 

“It’s an amazing opportunity. It’s not just about learning core science and discovering something new, but how we can bring these discoveries from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside. That is the whole philosophy of the laboratory and it is a perfect match for my interests,” says Minaam.

Minaam is one of 90 new Gates Cambridge Scholars announced this week as part of The Class of 2017. It comprises students from 34 nationalities, and includes the first Native American Scholar, as well as the first ever Scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Luxembourg.

Marina Velickovic, the first Gates Cambridge Scholar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, will do a PhD in International Criminal Law focusing on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia through the lens of gender and ethnicity. Marina has co-authored two books and co-founded the only feminist magazine in Bosnia, She is currently a Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths College, where she is working on a feminist critique of the legal discourse surrounding conflict-related sexual violence.

Sandile Mtetwa, from Zimbabwe, will do an MPhil in Chemistry focused on improving the properties of photo-active materials used in the process of harnessing clean energy. She is founder of the Trust Simuka-Arise Initiative, in Zimbabwe, which aims to empower young women academically, socially and economically.

Norman Wray from Ecuador is a Constituent Assembly Member and once stood for President of Ecuador. He is a strong advocate of the “Buen Vivir” (Good Living) regime, the rights of nature, and the inclusion of access to water as a human right in the Constitution of Ecuador. His MPhil in Conservation will develop a nature-based, evidence-led approach to the resolution of social, economic, ecological and political problems.

Gates Cambridge is the University of Cambridge’s leading award for international postgraduate students and was set up in October 2000 through a $210m donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -the largest single donation to a UK university. Those selected need to demonstrate not only academic brilliance but outstanding leadership qualities and a commitment to improving the lives of others.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says: “Gates Cambridge Scholars come from all over the world, but they have some important things in common: great leadership potential, a commitment to improving the lives of others and an unparalleled passion for learning. Melinda and I are pleased to welcome the class of 2017. We have no doubt they will have an incredible impact on topics of global importance.”

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Gates Cambridge Board of Trustees Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz added: “Cambridge is a global university and the Gates Cambridge programme epitomises both its international, outward-looking nature and its mission to tackle global challenges and to improve the lives of others.”

The mission of the scholarship is to create a dynamic global network of Scholars who use their intellectual and leadership skills to improve the lives of others. Since 2001 the programme has supported over 1,500 Scholars spanning more than 100 countries. The programme has already spawned several multi-disciplinary, international initiatives founded by groups of Scholars. 

They include Business Weekly award winner Simprints, which provides low-cost, fingerprint scanners for frontline workers in fields such as healthcare, finance and education; Favalley, a social hacking enterprise with the mission of turning slums and favelas around the world into the next Silicon Valleys; Action Meter, an e-democracy web platform for running social campaigns in Estonia; and We are Sister Stories, a digital platform that highlights the strength and resilience of women and girls across the globe.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Gates scholar, Minaam Abbas. Picture credit – David Powell

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) has made a research grant to Cambridge drug discovery and development business Mission Therapeutics.

The parties have declined to reveal the financial amount but the grant marks World Parkinson’s day.

Mission Therapeutics works on selectively targeting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) to treat neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and other diseases with high unmet medical need.

This grant will support the testing of Mission’s potent and selective USP30-targeted inhibitors in translationally relevant stem cell-derived Parkinson’s disease models developed by Professor Richard Wade-Martins and his research group at the University of Oxford.

USP30, a mitochondrial associated DUB, has been implicated in the control of mitophagy – a process where dysfunctional mitochondria are selectively cleared from the cell.

Failure of mitochondrial quality control may lead to degeneration of the highly active substantia nigra neurons in the brain, a pathological mechanism which results in Parkinson’s disease.

The inhibition of USP30 is being studied by Mission Therapeutics to see if this promotes mitophagy and thus improves cellular resilience in this and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The objective of the research collaboration with Professor Richard Wade-Martins is to test Mission’s potent and selective USP30 inhibitors in a range of disease models – induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC)-derived from patients with sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease.

Shalini Padmanabhan, PhD, associate director of research programmes at MJFF said: “USP30 is one of the more promising DUBs associated with mitophagy, in terms of published data and feasibility of compound development. 

“We hope that this collaboration between Mission Therapeutics and Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre will promote our understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of USP30 inhibition in Parkinson’s disease.”

Dr Michael Koslowski (pictured), executive VP for Research & Development and chief medical officer of Mission Therapeutics, added: “Receiving funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation is a great accolade, recognising the quality of the research being done by Mission Therapeutics and Prof. Wade-Martins and his group.

“The collaborative study will provide key data that will guide the clinical development strategy of our USP30 inhibitor programme. We are working hard to find new ways in which to tackle this difficult disease, which is especially highlighted during this World Parkinson Awareness week, for patients and their families.”

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects one in 100 people over age 60. There is no objective test, or biomarker, for Parkinson’s disease, so the rate of misdiagnosis can be relatively high. 

Estimates of the number of people living with the disease therefore vary, but recent research indicates that at least one million people in the US and more than five million worldwide have Parkinson’s.

Cambridge has been identified as a platform to facilitate collaborations between technology businesses, academic and research organisations in Turkey and the UK.

St John’s Innovation Centre is the launchpad for the initiative via Cambridge University alumnus Erenn Ore who is the UK office executive for Istanbul Technical University, Ari Teknokent & Hunova. 

A number of exciting Turkish technology startups are expected to set up operations in the UK as part of the enterprise.

Erenn Ore (above) previously worked as a nanotech and renewable energy consultant and as a business development officer at a US-based VC firm specialising in the commercialisation of early stage innovations in the energy economy. 

He carried out his doctorate studies in nanotechnology with a focus on solar cells at the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University where he also worked as a postdoctoral research assistant. His Masters thesis was in molecular electronics, which he conducted at the Cavendish Laboratory. He also  studied Management of Technology & Innovation at the Cambridge Judge Business School as part of his MPhil degree.

Within the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Itunova and Ari Teknokent together form one of the largest technology clusters in Turkey; it includes over 250 R & D companies with more than 6,000 employees, and generates around $0.9 billion in exports annually.

Erenn said the key activities for the UK office of Itunova and Ari Teknokent were planned to be:- 

• Exposing promising Turkish startups from the Itunova and Teknopark to British investment as well as to UK accelerator/incubator programmes
• Increasing the number of licences for its patent portfolio, including investigating cross-licensing opportunities
• Forming collaborations between ITU and the leading British institutions on entrepreneurship, technology commercialisation and academic research. 

He told Business Weekly: “At Itunova, and Teknokent, we are flexible in our approach to investment, technology transfer and research collaboration. Our other strength is that we have a large inflow of entrepreneurs and startups within the Itunova and Teknopark technology cluster through our various entrepreneurship programmes. 

“We would like to expose some of our best performing technology startups with a global market potential to British investors and the UK marketplace. This would include relocating them to the UK.

“We are already running a programme which involves bringing promising Turkish technology startups – usually with $1m-$5 million sales turnover – into contact with the US market and investors. This is done through our ITU Gate international accelerator programme.

“From over 300 startups that apply annually, 20 are admitted to the first part of the ITU Gate programme in Turkey and then the six to eight best ones are sent to the final leg of the programme at our US offices in Chicago and San Francisco.

“For budding entrepreneurs with their ideas at the scientific discovery/ initial concept stage, we run the ITU Seed (Çekirdek in Turkish) programme at our early stage incubator facility of 800 m2 office/lab space.

“For this year’s programme, about 9,000 applications across Turkey were received. The number of applications was narrowed down through various jury processes culminating in a final Big Bang event which saw well over $2m seed capital awarded to the best entrepreneurs in addition to free office space at the Technology Park. Through ITU Seed, annually, over 30 start-ups are established.

“In addition, we have the brand new ITU Magnet advanced entrepreneurship centre with 2500 m2 lab/ office space, which functions as an incubator for technology startups that have already secured seed funding. The best startups coming through ITU Seed and ITU Magnet will be the leading candidates for relocation to the UK.”

Arecor, a leading UK formulation technology research company, was today set to sign a £45 million licensing R & D agreement with Cadila Pharmaceuticals of India.

It was one of a number of commercial deals to be signed during Chancellor Philip Hammond’s visit to Delhi and Mumbai as part of the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, when UK-India economic and trade relations takes centre stage.

As part of the same initiative AstraZeneca, now headquartered in Cambridge, is expanding its global technology centre in Chennai.

Arecor, based at Chesterford Research Park, is working with Cadila to research and develop insulin glargine for diabetes.

AstraZeneca invested in its Chennai GTC two years ago with more than 2,000 employs. The company is further expanding the centre with the opening of a fresh facility that will focus on IT and non-IT services.

Hammond said: “As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is more important than ever that we strengthen our relationship with India – one of the world’s leading economies and one of our oldest friends and allies.

“Our trade and investment relationship is already strong – the UK has been the largest G20 investor in India during the last 10 years and India is a leading global investor in the UK, creating over 7,000 new jobs last year alone, but there is much more we can do. 

“I am looking forward to positive and productive talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team.”

• PHOTOGRAPH: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond. Image Crown copyright.