National centre to find cure for flu announced

A new national centre to investigate cures for influenza will be at the heart of a £160million lift for the research sector, ministers have announced.

The facility is also expected to make large-scale vaccines to tackle polio and a host of other illnesses.

The announcement coincides with a review recommending the future strategy for Britain’s £64billion life sciences industry with Brexit in mind.

Prof Sir John Bell, the regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, will spell out at a speech at Birmingham University today how the country can build life sciences into a “globally unique industry” while improving outcomes for patients.