RECENT NEWS

The NHS Modernisation Bill brought forward in the UK Parliament on Thursday 14 May will introduce the Single Patient Record, allowing fragmented health information to be joined up around the country, and will cut layers of bureaucracy so more time and money can be spent on frontline services.

A new report published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that the trend in HIV diagnoses in England have continued to fall, with England meeting the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets again.

Hundreds of thousands of babies will be screened as part of a new NIHR-funded trial evaluating newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

More than 1,500 people a year with an aggressive form of stomach cancer are set to receive a new treatment available on the NHS, after NICE recommended durvalumab - the first immunotherapy for people with this form of cancer.

Precision medicine firm SOPHiA GENETICS has announced a partnership with Synnovis, one of England's leading pathology providers, to bring liquid biopsy testing to lung and breast cancer patients across the UK as part of NHS England's revolutionary ‘blood test-first' programme.

Cepheid has received CE marking under the in vitro medical device regulation (IVDR) for the Xpert GI Panel. This multiplex PCR test is designed to enable fast, accurate detection of 11 clinically relevant gastrointestinal (GI) pathogens from a single patient sample.

AstraZeneca and Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to help advance digital pathology capabilities and elevate cancer care across nine Asia markets, a first in the region.

Northern Ireland’s rapidly growing life sciences industry is set to benefit from closer collaboration with the UK regulator, as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced it is establishing a hub in Northern Ireland, hosted by Invest Northern Ireland in Belfast.

A novel blood test for identifying damage to the lining of microscopic blood vessels could transform the ability to detect heart and kidney disease at its very earliest stages, suggests new research.

Upfront Diagnostics has announced the commercial launch of LVOne, a rapid blood test designed to help identify large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes in the pre-hospital setting. The test has received UKCA marking, enabling clinical use in the United Kingdom, and is now being deployed in partnership with London Ambulance Service (LAS).

Roche has received the CE mark for its Elecsys pTau217 blood test, designed to measure the phosphorylated Tau (pTau) 217 protein, an indicator of amyloid pathology and a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), in San Diego, California, are the first in the world to characterise human antibodies capable of neutralising measles virus. These antibodies bind to key sites on measles virus and prevent the virus from entering host cells.

Pathology services provider SYNLAB UK & Ireland has announced the expansion of its partnership with iFAST Diagnostics, making it the firm’s first commercial laboratory partner in the UK.

New pre-market regulatory requirements for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices entering the GB market have been published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the World Trade Organisation notification portal.

The UK Government has worked with international partners to ensure the safe return of all remaining British nationals on board MV Hondius – the cruise ship which saw an outbreak of Hantavirus, with passengers now safely transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital.

LabWise Academy, an Irish-based specialist education platform for medical scientists and laboratory professionals, has launched a new online course focused on IT connectivity in near-patient testing (NPT) - a topic that sits at the intersection of clinical practice, regulatory compliance, and digital health integration.

QIAGEN has announced plans to advance its QuantiFERON latent tuberculosis (TB) test with a new fully automated sample-to-insight workflow and a separate AI-enabled risk stratification tool for TB progression.

A new study suggests a simple finger prick blood test combined with online brain testing, all done at home, could help identify people at risk of developing dementia.

Roche has announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire PathAI, a US-based company in digital pathology and AI-powered technology for pathology laboratories and the biopharma industry.

Mast Group was recently recognised for its contribution to bowel cancer screening, receiving the Primary / Social Care Partnership Award at the Medilink North of England Healthcare Business Awards 2026.