A Chinese pharmaceutical giant is to be handed £151m to substantially grow its operations in Liverpool and create 174 jobs.

Pharmaron has been named as one of the beneficiaries of the first tranche of Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) grants backed by the government and private investment.

The company will now increase its production capacity for critical gene therapy and vaccine components four-fold as well a secure as further 156 roles.

A total of £277m has been awarded through the grants, with £17m coming from the government and £260m from the private sector. The grants are said to be helping to create 320 jobs and safeguard 199 roles.

Elsewhere, Ipsen has been awarded £75m to grow the manufacture of innovative medicines for neurological conditions, creating 39 new jobs and safeguarding a further 37 at its Wrexham facility.

Touchlight has been handed £14m to create 17 jobs and protect a further six at its London base. Randox has also been given £36m to modernise the manufacture of antibodies used across diagnostic tests. A new facility in Crumlin, Northern Ireland, will create 90 new jobs.

Minister of State for Science, Research & Innovation, George Freeman, said: “The UK’s £94bn Life Science sector provides over 250,000 high skill jobs across the UK from drug discovery to diagnostics, medtech devices and digital health.

The industry is being transformed by the pace of change: from AI to genomics, bio manufacturing to smart stents and personalised immunotherapies, technologies are converging to create a new era of advanced digital products.”

He added: “That requires new types of advances manufacturing plant which is why we set up the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, which today’s news shows is working: converting £17m grants to four companies into £260m industrial investment.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt added: “The UK is home to Europe’s largest life science sector – it’s a real British success story which includes the first Covid vaccine that saved millions of lives.

We want to cement Britain’s competitive advantage by backing more innovative projects to develop, manufacture and export those treatments of the future.”

Minister of State for Health Will Quince said: “We’re harnessing the same spirit of innovation that delivered the Covid vaccine, and working hand in hand with industry and healthcare experts to get cutting-edge medicines to patients faster.

This is an important step towards strengthening the UK’s long term manufacturing capability, while supporting the development of innovative technologies and ground breaking medicines.”

He added: “The life sciences sector is crucial to the UK’s health resilience. Through government and industry investment, we will continue to drive it forward – creating jobs and cementing our position as a global life sciences superpower.”