Highlights

There has been a reshuffle of the ministerial team within the Department of Health and Social Care, with new figures addressing key subjects on the health agenda such as diagnostics, innovation, vaccines and funding. Lord Kamall is to replace Lord Bethell as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation. His responsibilities will cover areas such as the COVID-19 response,…

In March, Doris-Ann participated in a round table for the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS)on building on the pandemic to produce a sustainable UK Diagnostics sector. They have now published a report on this which you can download here. Doris-Ann’s role specifically  was to bring the industry viewpoint alongside speakers including Prof Dame Sue Hill & Prof Dame Anna Dominiczak.…

US President Joe Biden has signalled a slow-down towards a free trade agreement with UK as he met Boris Johnson for White House talks. Mr Biden has cautioned Mr Johnson over putting at risk stability in Northern Ireland through the implementation of Brexit. Mr Johnson has admitted that the trade deal is lower down on the list of priorities held…

Vulnerable hospital patients are to begin receiving a ‘ground-breaking’ drug from next week to fight coronavirus. The treatment is named Ronapreve, and will serve to aid patients unable to build up an antibody response against COVID-19. The MHRA gave approval for its use last month, and it uses a pair of laboratory-produced antibodies to attack the virus. The former US…

The Office for the Internal Market has officially launched this week, and is calling on businesses to report any issues related to trading across different areas of the United Kingdom. All four UK nations can now seek advice from the OIM on the UK’s internal market operation. The OIM will operate as part of the Competition Markets Authority and will…

We are delighted to have held our first Seminar on Sustainability on Wednesday afternoon. This was a face-to-face meeting which was a roundtable event of 35 attendees with guest speakers. Our speakers included. The Deputy Director for Strategy, Policy & Regulation from the Medical Technology Directorate at the DHSC and the Head of Sustainable Procurement and Supply Chain for NHS…

Wessex AHSN is launching the next round of its Technology Support Programme which is targeting the i4i Product Development award. Companies accepted onto the TSP2 will benefit from feedback on their innovation from a panel of experts, with the chance to present their innovation and form a research collaboration with Wessex clinicians and researchers. If you are an innovator, start-up,…

COVID Antigen & Molecular test laboratory validation consultation On Tuesday Steve Lee (ABHI) and Doris-Ann again co-hosted a webinar to discuss this consultation which is only open until the end of September – the aim was to hear from members and to develop an aligned response from industry. Thank you to everyone who gave us great input – we were…

NHS England is to launch the world’s largest trial of a blood test that aims to detect more than 50 types of cancer. More than 100,000 volunteers are being sought to provide information on the potential usage of the test method within NHS services. The volunteers are to provide blood samples at mobile test clinics in regions across England. The…