Chancellor and Pensions Minister visit pioneering biotech spinout at White City

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP and Minister for Pensions Emma Reynolds MP visiting the Quell Therapeutics labs

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, met biotech innovators at Imperial's White City Deep Tech Campus this week.

The Chancellor Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP and Minister for Pensions Emma Reynolds MP were accompanied by Steve Bates OBE FMedSci (CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association, BIA) and Kristen McLeod CBE (CSO of the British Business Bank). 

They visited Quell Therapeutics, a leading biotechnology company based in the Translation & Innovation Hub (I-HUB) at Imperial’s White City Deep Tech Campus. The Campus anchors the White City Innovation District, a key component of the Imperial WestTech Corridor which brings together a unique set of innovation assets to create a vibrant new ecosystem of globally competitive scale that is a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth and job creation. 

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After meeting Quell employees and a tour of the state-of-the-art lab facilities, the Chancellor shared insights on the UK Government’s vision for pension “megafunds” to accelerate growth of the UK economy and particularly investment into innovative sectors that capitalise on the UK’s world-leading research capabilities. 

The visit came ahead of the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech, where she announced next steps on pension reform to unlock more private investment to fuel the government’s growth mission. 

The Government’s plans for reforms to defined contribution pension schemes could have a transformative impact on the availability of capital to support growth-stage companies like Quell and other scale-ups on our White City Campus. The ability to access mid-stage investments for deep-technology companies remains a key barrier to growth to larger scale at later stage investment rounds.