Wiebke, who is also Professor of Transdisciplinary Medicine at Imperial College London alongside her role as Director of the MRC LMS, spoke this week at the official opening of Pfizer’s new Internal Medicine Innovation Centre (IMIC), based at Apex within the London Bioscience Innovation Centre. The new facility will focus on early-stage discovery research into peptide-based medicines including potential treatments for obesity and cardiometabolic disease. 

This initiative is an endorsement of the strength of UK early-stage science and builds on Pfizer’s long-standing research presence in the country. 

Speaking at the opening, Wiebke reflected on the decades of publicly funded discovery science that underpin advances of this kind. Much of the science behind today’s obesity medicines began at Imperial College London, with Professor Sir Steve Bloom’s research into gut peptides and how they regulate appetite. This work that was supported by the MRC over many years and ultimately led, through university spin-out companies, to research and drug development now being carried forward within Pfizer. 

“This isn’t a story about one scientist, or even one institution,” Wiebke said. “It’s the story of a field built up over decades, through curiosity-driven discovery science, clinical insight, sustained public research funding, and a strong academic environment.” 

Wiebke used the occasion to highlight the LMS’ own, continuing work in this space. Cardiometabolic disease – including obesity  is a core area of expertise at the LMS as part of its broader focus on understanding fundamental biology to discover mechanisms and targets that can translate into new treatments and strategies that can transform the lives of patients. Metsera, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2025, has been collaborating with the LMS to support their novel approach to obesity management. 

Pfizer’s UK leadership also spoke at the event. John McGinley, Country President and Managing Director of Pfizer UK, described the opening as an important milestone for Pfizer UK, testament to the strength of the science underway in the country. Jim List, Pfizer’s Chief Internal Medicine Officer, noted that obesity remains one of the most significant health challenges of our time, and that the new centre brings together some of the company’s most talented researchers with world-class capabilities in peptide discovery. 

“The opening of Pfizer’s new centre reflects an active, fruitful and ever-growing relationship between academia and industry,” Wiebke said, “and one I am confident will lead to further collaboration in the years ahead.” 

Photographs by Photographer London.