Helen attended a roundtable event at the Liberal Democrat party conference to discuss how the UK life sciences sector can deliver benefits to patients and people’s lives. With representatives from BIA, Association of Medical Research Charities and the Lib Dem policy team, the attendees shared practical solutions around clinical trials, regulation, growth and market access. It was good to hear…
Ben KempOctober 1, 2025
AI to be trialled at unprecedented scale across NHS screening Millions of patients could receive quicker diagnoses and treatment, as pioneering AI tools are tested on an unprecedented scale in NHS screening services, thanks to a ground-breaking new cloud system. A new AI research screening platform dubbed AIR-SP - backed by nearly £6 million in government funding - is being built by…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025
In advance of the BIVDA Market Access & Procurement Working Party meeting on Tuesday 7th October, members can find the agenda here. It promises to be another great session as we have Jim Morris from DHSC joining us to provide an update and next steps following the recent Call for Evidence. Alice Dixon from NHS Supply Chain will follow Jim…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025
The Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment Fund (TRIF) pilot is a newly established £50 million capital grant opportunity. The fund supports major R&D investments in the UK Life Sciences sector to: drive innovation enhance health resilience deliver economic benefits Projects with a total cost (including capital expenditure) of at least £100 million are eligible to apply. How the grant will…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025
A new National Commission has been tasked with advising the MHRA on how to re-write the regulatory rulebook on AI in healthcare, which will be published next year. The government hopes this should ensure that the NHS gains access to the latest AI tools faster. The UK National Commission on the Regulation of AI in Healthcare will bring in experts…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025
It was a pleasure to attend the IBMS Congress last week to catch up with our members and to also meet some potential new ones who we hope will join the BIVDA family. It is also always brilliant to meet with contacts from across my career, albeit there are not so many of us remaining now due to age finally…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025
The BIVDA Member Survey was released last week and has garnered 20 responses so far. We are grateful for these responses but urge more members to complete the survey to allow us to obtain a more comprehensive account of BIVDA members' views of the organisation and how we can improve. The survey should take just 5–10 minutes to complete and…
Ben KempSeptember 30, 2025