The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK. Subscribe to their new monthly newsletter to stay updated on their activities.
DawnJanuary 3, 2024
People aged 54 will now automatically receive a home test kit every two years by post when they become eligible. The kit, known as the faecal immunochemical test (FIT), checks for blood in a small stool sample, which can be a sign of bowel cancer. The phased expansion to people aged 54 years means an additional 830,000 people in England…
DawnJanuary 3, 2024
A blood test is being trialled that can rapidly detect whether a patient has sepsis, in what could be a breakthrough for sepsis diagnosis and treatment. Sepsis is a notoriously difficult condition to diagnose and early intervention significantly improves patient outcomes. Dr Andrew Retter, an intensive care consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, who is…
DawnJanuary 3, 2024
The UK’s association to the world-leading Horizon and Copernicus programmes was officially sealed as Science and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan visited Brussels last week to turbo-charge efforts to maximise UK involvement. This deal is set to create and support thousands of new jobs as part of the next generation of research talent. It will help deliver the Prime Minister’s ambition…
Ben KempDecember 20, 2023
A pre-Christmas treat from Onward as an expert panel, including Science, Research and Innovation Minister Andrew Griffith ponder how success can be measured in making the UK a SciTech superpower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fzTjUuOD1E
Ben KempDecember 18, 2023
Oxford University blood test could unlock earlier Parkinson's treatment Patients could benefit from earlier treatment for Parkinson’s disease following the development of a new blood test from researchers at the University of Oxford. The test screens people at risk of Parkinson’s disease by using a biomarker called alpha-synuclein – a protein which Oxford researchers have already demonstrated has an elevated…
Ben KempDecember 15, 2023
Data released by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) demonstrates public appetite for more political focus on R&D. The polling, carried out as part of CaSE’s Discovery Decade programme by research agency Public First in October 2023, also found that a majority (70% of 1,094) would support a proposal to build a new laboratory for carrying out R&D on…
Ben KempDecember 15, 2023
Innovate UK and OLS will invest £10 million in 17 projects as part of the advancing precision medicines competition. The OLS funding is part of the life sciences vision cancer mission. Precision medicine offers new ways of treating disease based on individual patient characteristics and can enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of diseases, including cancer. The funded projects will…
DawnDecember 15, 2023
A new study has suggested that patients are being put at risk through non-contact GP appointments which can fail to pick up serious illnesses. The study examined 95 UK safety incidents over the past three years, comprising complaints, reports and compensation claims. Errors included missing the diagnosis of serious conditions including cancer, sepsis and heart disease which the study claimed…
DawnDecember 8, 2023
A new research project to evaluate an expansion of the hugely successful HIV opt-out testing programme to new sites across England, has today been announced. Given the success of the existing testing programme, this new initiative is expected to save, and improve the quality of, thousands of lives. Backed by £20 million of NIHR funding, the research will evaluate the testing programme…
DawnDecember 8, 2023