AN organisation aimed at developing next generation healthcare treatments has received £8.3m backing to build a new County Durham hub.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is beginning work on the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics, based at Sedgefield’s NetPark.

Bosses say the base is expected to open in late 2018, adding it will use light to diagnose and treat acute and chronic conditions.

The plans were first revealed last year, with officials at the time telling The Northern Echo that the site would support pioneering medical work by helping firms and universities research and scale-up treatments for ailments such as skin cancer and eye disease, and conditions such as jaundice.

The £8.3m backing has come from the Local Growth Fund, through the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership, and Dr Tom Harvey, CPI strategic programmes manager, said the hub will provide a major fillip to the healthcare sector.

He said: “This new centre will provide the infrastructure and support for companies to bring to market their highly innovative products, which have the potential to be cost-effective and provide improvements to patient care.

“We will be looking at applications spanning the full range of healthcare settings, from hospitals and GPs through to home-based care.”

The investment represents another sign of CPI’s commitment to the North-East, having previously invested in bases at NetPark, Darlington and Wilton, near Redcar.

Last year, contractors broke ground on a National Formulation Centre at NetPark, which aims to support companies’ efforts to increase innovation across areas such as medicines, cosmetics and detergents.

It is also ramping up work at its £38m National Biologics Manufacturing Centre in Darlington, which provides firms with technical backing to research and develop potentially life-saving cures and vaccines, including cancer treatments and therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

At Wilton, the organisation has spent money on new equipment to strengthen industrial biotechnology and biorefinery facilities, with the aim of helping greater numbers of smaller businesses move ideas to the commercialisation stage.