05 December 2025
5 min read
An overview of the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, its origins, objectives, eligibility criteria and its role in strengthening UK life sciences manufacturing.
The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) is a significant capital grant programme established by the UK Government to strengthen the country’s manufacturing capacity and capability in the life sciences sector.
The LSIMF is an evolution and expansion of previous successful initiatives, directly influenced by key events and strategies.
1. The COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2021)
The pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global and domestic supply chains for essential medical products, including personal protective equipment (PPE), diagnostics, and vaccines. This experience led to a strategic priority to boost the UK’s capacity to quickly and flexibly manufacture life sciences products domestically, ensuring resilience against future health crises.
2. Predecessor Fund: MDMTF (2021)
The immediate precursor to the LSIMF was the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund (MDMTF) Pilot Programme.
3. The Life Sciences Vision (2021)
The UK Government published its Life Sciences Vision in 2021, setting out an ambitious 10-year plan for the sector. Central to this vision was the ambition to:
The LSIMF was conceived as the key delivery mechanism for the manufacturing component of this Vision.
➤ ➤ Launch and Scale-up: Building on the MDMTF’s success, the LSIMF was launched with a much greater commitment, allocating up to £520 million in capital grants for the period covering 2025–2030 (following an earlier tranche of funding).
➤ ➤ Wider Scope: LSIMF expanded the focus beyond just medicines and diagnostics to include a broader range of MedTech products
➤ ➤ The £8 Million Threshold: The fund retained a focus on significant investments, setting a minimum project cost of £8 million to ensure that the grant money would be used to drive transformative, commercial-scale change.
In essence, the LSIMF represents the UK Government’s long-term, large-scale commitment to de-risk private investment in the manufacturing side of the life sciences sector, directly addressing the lessons learned from the pandemic and executing the strategy set out in the Life Sciences Vision.
The LSIMF aims to support investments that deliver on the UK’s Life Sciences Vision, primarily focusing on two main goals:
✔ Increase UK Health Resilience: Strengthen the UK’s ability to withstand and recover from health emergencies (like pandemics), long-term healthcare challenges, and system shocks (like supply chain disruption).
✔ Create Economic Opportunity: Drive substantial Gross Value Added (GVA), and provide high-wage, high-skilled jobs across the UK, contributing to the ‘levelling up’ agenda
| FEATURE | SPECIFICATION |
| Total Fund Value | Up to £520 million in capital grants (for 2025–2030, with earlier tranches also awarded). |
| Focus | Manufacturing (e.g., establishing, upgrading, or expanding facilities). |
| Minimum Project Cost | Projects must have a total cost (capital and non-capital) of at least £8 million |
| Grant Award | Typically 10% to 25% of eligible capital costs, depending on company size (SMEs can receive higher intervention rates) and subsidy control rules. |
| Eligible Sectors | The manufacture of: * Human medicines (including active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and finished product). * Medical diagnostics (for disease identification and monitoring). * MedTech products (all types of medical devices). |
| Eligibility | UK-registered, wholly private-sector businesses (product developers, contract development manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), or generics manufacturers). |
| Application Process | Rolling Expressions of Interest (EOI) followed by a multi-stage application that includes a Health Resilience Assessment. |
The LSIMF and the Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund (TRIF) Pilot are complementary, but focus on different stages of the life sciences pipeline:
| Feature | Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) | Transformational R&D Investment Fund (TRIF) Pilot |
| Main Focus | Manufacturing (commercial scale-up, production). | Research & Development (drug discovery, clinical research). |
| Minimum Project Cost | £8 million | £100 million |
| Total Fund Value | Up to £520 million (across 2025–2030) | £50 million (Pilot) |
In essence, LSIMF supports the making of life sciences products, while TRIF supports the discovery and development of them, with the TRIF pilot aiming for especially large-scale R&D projects.
If you have any questions about Grant Funding or Innovation Tax Relief please contact the ABGi Team. A member of our team will get back to you to discuss your unique needs and explain how we can assist.