Royal accolade for future medicines course

A course that trains students to develop the medicines of the future has received a prestigious royal award.

Labcorp, a global leader of innovative and comprehensive laboratory services, and the University of Leeds have been awarded the Princess Royal Training Award for designing and developing the Masters in Biopharmaceutical Development with Industrial Placement. 

The programme was created in 2016 to provide employees and students in the biological drug development industry with the right skill-sets to support the field of biopharmaceutical discovery and development.

Students obtain industry-relevant training through a 12-month paid placement, designed to fast-track talented scientists into the biopharmaceutical field. 

Among this year’s highlights:
•    As of September 2022, a total of 97 graduates have completed the programme.
•    70% of those employed by Labcorp were promoted at time of programme completion. 
•    Labcorp has used the training to create a shorter in-house training programme for approximately 400 employees.

The Princess Royal Training Awards, run by the City & Guilds Foundation, are given to employers in the UK and Ireland that demonstrate a high standard of excellence in their training and create outstanding development programmes, which have a direct impact on business performance and needs.

This is the second time the program has received the accolade, having previously been recognised in 2020, and is one of three awards granted to Labcorp this year from the Princess Royal Training Awards.

Professor Jeff Grabill, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education at the University of Leeds, said: “Recipients of the Princess Royal awards are standard bearers of excellence in training and skills development and there is a rigorous application review process.

The MSc in Biopharmaceutical Development is one of our flagship programmes that is developed with business, for business.

It combines research-driven learning and practical application to solve real-world challenges in the drug development field.

“By co-developing such courses with industry partners, we are playing a leading role in addressing the country’s future skills needs.”