RECENT NEWS

The first Phase 3 randomised clinical trial of an investigational mRNA norovirus vaccine will open across the UK within the next few weeks.

Caris Life Sciences, a AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer, has announced a multi-year research collaboration with ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group.

Professional membership bodies The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) have announced they are working on responses to the NHS 10 Year Plan consultation, as well as urging their members to contribute on an individual basis.

Bioptimus, a French startup building the reference AI foundation model in biology, has announced that its best-in-class H-optimus-0 foundation model is now integrated into Proscia’s Concentriq Embeddings, enabling data scientists and researchers in pathology and life sciences to achieve breakthroughs in AI development at unprecedented speed and scale.

A new research paper published by team from the University of Bern and Bern University Hospital in Switzerland showcases the accuracy of a new test which could improve the diagnosis of food allergies.

US diagnostics firm Access Genetics has acquired all assets of California-based company Sensible Diagnostics. Access Genetics subsidiary OralDNA will be assuming ownership of Sensible Diagnostics’ assets and will be commercialising a new point-of-care molecular diagnostics system.

A new group of MPs and peers have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves urging her to protect and promote the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector in the government's first Budget.

New legislation will introduce clearer and risk-proportionate requirements that improve the safety of medical devices across Great Britain and provide certainty for manufacturers ahead of introducing the wider future regulatory regime.

Researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) have used artificial intelligence (AI) to help identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The team led by Adrian Egli, UZH professor at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, is the first to investigate how GPT-4, a powerful AI model developed by OpenAI, can be used to analyse antibiotic resistance.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called on NHS staff and experts – as well as the entire nation - to help shape the government’s plans to overhaul the NHS.

MedTech Europe – with the backing of 39 national associations, including BIVDA – is urging the EU to take action on the medical technology regulations (IVDR and MDR) to ensure the availability and competitiveness of medical devices.

Our Future Health is now the largest longitudinal cohort study in the world that uses blood samples, with over a million people from across the UK having joined. The health research programme was set up with funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Accelerating Detection of Disease Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK.

Molecular diagnostics firm Yourgene Health (part of the Novacyt group of companies), has received accreditation under the new EU requirements of IVDR for its Yourgene Cystic Fibrosis Base assay.

AI-powered cancer diagnostics firm Ibex Medical Analytics has announced the publication of a clinical study in the peer-reviewed journal JCO Precision Oncology, reporting that pathologists supported by Ibex Breast HER2 show improvement in HER2 scoring accuracy and consistency.

The October issue of PiP has now been published and is available to read online.

BD has announced the commercial launch of the first in a family of high-throughput, robotics-compatible reagent kits that will enable automation to ensure greater consistency and increased efficiency of large-scale, single-cell discovery studies.

For the third year in a row the challenges facing the UK’s HealthTech industry have continued to grow, the latest sector-wide study has revealed. It shows that whilst the sector continues to provide critical life-enhancing technologies and significant employment across the country, it faces persistent regulatory challenges and NHS barriers that hinder innovation.

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have created a CRISPR-based rapid molecular diagnostic for two forms of leukaemia that are driven by mutations that involve gene fusions. The technology accurately detects the presence of these gene fusions in acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in patient samples.

Genomic sequencing company PacBio has agreed a new Research Collaboration Agreement (RCA) with the National Cancer Centre of Singapore (NCCS). This collaboration aims to accelerate cancer research by leveraging PacBio’s advanced sequencing technologies, including the Onso short-read sequencing platform, to profile the genomic landscape of prevalent cancers in Asia.

South Korean molecular diagnostics firm Seegene has announced the completion of a partnership agreement with diagnostic company Werfen, for a new technology sharing initiative. Under the agreement, Seegene and Werfen will establish a NewCo in Spain, Werfen-Seegene.