The Health and Care Bill has finally received Royal Assent after months of discussion and ping-ponging. Read here for BIVDA's report on what the Bill entails and what effect it may have on member companies.

According to a recent Lancet report, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) isn’t a pandemic in waiting, its already here. AMR infections are estimated to cause 700,000 deaths each year globally. That figure is predicted to rise to 10 million, alongside a cumulative cost of $1 trillion, by 2050 if no action is taken. That’s a hundred times greater than the global economic threat of covid-19.

AMLo Biosciences Ltd (AMLo), an innovative medical device company spun out of Newcastle University specialising in the early detection of skin cancers, is pleased to announce it has secured significant further investment totalling £2.45m.

The NHS is set to miss two critical targets in tackling AMR – as outlined in a five-year AMR action plan unveiled by the government in 2019. The targets expected to be missed are: reducing the number of three gram-negative bacteria from bloodstream infections in healthcare settings by 25% by March this year, and 50% by 2024.Current figures show a minimal decline in bloodstream infections caused by bacteria such as E coli – evidently not enough to meet the 25% target for this March. M...

A new Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England has been recruited and will support the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty. Dr Thomas Waite has been placed in the Deputy CMO role, replacing Professor Jonathan Van-Tam who stepped down on 31 March 2022. Among Dr Waite’s responsibilities will be emergency response and preparedness, infectious diseases, vaccines and therapeutics. During the pandemic, Dr Waite helped create the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) – which provides evid...

Mobile testing trucks have been travelling up and down the country to improve early lung cancer diagnosis, with 600 people receiving potentially life-saving early diagnoses so far. Evidence so far has shown a significant rise in early lung cancer diagnosis across the population.The community scheme, which forms part of the NHS Targeted Lung Health Check Programme, has diagnosed patients at the earliest stages – stage 1 and 2 – 77% of the time. In 2018, the comparable figure was far l...

A new Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England has been recruited and will support the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty. Dr Thomas Waite has been placed in the Deputy CMO role, replacing Professor Jonathan Van-Tam who stepped down on 31 March 2022. Among Dr Waite’s responsibilities will be emergency response and preparedness, infectious diseases, vaccines and therapeutics. During the pandemic, Dr Waite helped create the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) – which provides evid...

The US-developed test is estimated to be twice as accurate as previous tests in predicting heart problems and strokes over the next four years. The test is currently available in four healthcare systems in the US, and it is hoped it will be approved for UK-use soon.It works by measuring the levels of proteins in the blood, with scientists particularly interested in identifying the 27 proteins that most accurately predict the risk of death or illness by heart problems or stroke over a four-year p...

BioIVT, a leading provider of biospecimens, research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that it has appointed Jennifer Murphy as Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Operations. In her new role, Jennifer will be responsible for building and growing the global commercial programs for all BioIVT’s product lines and services

The North East Innovation Lab, originally established as part of the region’s integrated Covid hub, has received an investment of £1.4 million to continue work on assessing and evaluating the next generation of diagnostic tests