RECENT NEWS

The NHS is expanding home testing for bowel cancer as it aims to detect the disease earlier. Hundreds of thousands more people will be sent a home-testing kit as the lifesaving screening programme is now being made available to individuals aged 54 in England.

CardioRenal and Grenoble Alpes University Hospital have unveiled a major innovation that allows chronically ill patients to measure their blood potassium levels autonomously and accurately. The TENOR device enables patients to measure their blood potassium levels at home, similar to how diabetic patients have conducted blood sugar self-tests for many years.

New links between human activity and its impact on the emergence of viruses within parasites in the rainforests of Peru and Bolivia have been discovered, according to a paper authored by researchers from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp and the Rega Institute for Medical Research (KU Leuven) who are investigating the spread of tropical diseases.

Two Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland have gone live with Clinisys WinPath, at the start of a series of deployments from the Core LIMS project. This project, which is being led by the Business Services Organisation (BSO), will see every pathology service in Northern Ireland adopt the laboratory information system to support the modernisation of services.

AstraZeneca has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Icosavax, a US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing differentiated, high-potential vaccines. It will give AstraZenica rights to a vaccine candidate targeting both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV), which is currently on its way into Phase III testing.

Tried-and-tested ThinCert cell culture inserts from Greiner Bio-One are now available in a new 96-well HTS option, perfect for high-throughput applications. The new product joins the company’s popular 6-, 12- and 24-well options in the range, which is suitable for sophisticated cell and tissue culture applications.

The global vaccine networks will continue their vital work for a further two years with funding granted by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), from the International Science Partnerships Fund.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched its new KingFisher Apex Dx, an automated nucleic acid purification instrument, and Applied Biosystems MagMAX Dx Viral/Pathogen NA Isolation Kit for the isolation and purification of viral and bacterial pathogens from respiratory biological specimens. Together these products provide laboratories with an in vitro diagnostic (IVD) and in vitro diagnostic regulation (IVD-R) approved automated sample preparation solutions for increased confidence in downstream results.

PharmaKure, a clinical stage company developing precision medicine for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, has announced a research collaboration agreement with the Faculty of Pharmacy in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), one of the largest comprehensive universities in Malaysia. The partnership is focused on advancing research initiatives on the use of machine learning tools to predict Alzheimer’s disease using blood via academic-industry partnerships.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published its investigation findings on the recent case of influenza A(H1N2)v – a type of swine influenza – confirming that no further cases have been detected.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics have announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved CASGEVY (exagamglogene autotemcel [exa-cel]), a CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited cell therapy, for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD) in patients 12 years and older with recurrent vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs).

Innovate UK and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) have announced new support for innovation in chronic conditions and cancer. Seventeen projects will receive £10 million in new funding as part of the advancing precision medicines competition. The OLS funding is part of the life sciences vision cancer mission.

US digital health platform company imaware has acquired binx health’s at-home consumer testing business. The acquisition will expand imaware’s position in the growing US market for home-health testing and expand the company’s number of enterprise clients.

The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) has published a position statement on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), focusing on the support and investment needed by medical microbiology and virology members to tackle this threat to global health.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has announced it has received 510(k) clearances from the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for a novel blood collection device that obtains blood samples from a fingerstick that produce laboratory-quality results for some of the most commonly ordered blood tests.

US digital pathology firm Corista has announced a strategic partnership with AGFA HealthCare, a renowned name in diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. This alliance represents an important advancement in healthcare technology, integrating Corista's DP3 technology with AGFA HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging for Pathology platform.

CellNetix Pathology & Laboratories, one of the largest independent pathology service providers in the United States, is innovating its practice with digital pathology to advance its mission of excellence via a new partnership with digital and computational pathology solutions provider Proscia.

Omini, a medtech company developing the first multiplexed blood testing platform for personalised medicine and chronic disease management, has received approval from European authorities of a patent for its multi-gate Organic Electro-Chemical Transistor (OECT)-based detection device comprising depolarisation electrode.

The latest in the series of ‘POCT Innovators: The power to disrupt’ events, taking place in Leeds on 20 March 2024, is now open for booking.

PerkinElmer has acquired life science firm Covaris, with the merger accelerating Covaris’ growth potential and expanding PerkinElmer’s existing life sciences portfolio into the high-growth diagnostics end market. Both companies are majority owned by New Mountain Capital, and terms of the transaction were not disclosed.