UK News

Ministers have opened a new vaccine research centre at the UKHSA Porton Down campus in Wiltshire, intended to prepare for 'disease x', the next possible pandemic pathogen.

Bristol Myers Squibb has announced that NICE has recommended Sotyktu (deucravacitinib) for use on the NHS in England as a new treatment option for adult patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

Figures from a team at the University of York, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have revealed that the total cost of prescription medicines to NHS England reached a new high of £17.2bn in 2021-22, and that since 2018, NHS spending on branded medicines have been increasing by over 5% annually.

UK-based trade union Unite were pushing for staff walkouts at several GSK manufacturing sites due to disputes regarding pay increases, however to date there have been no updates as to whether GSK have extended another offer.

NHS England has announced that pharmacists in England will be given wider prescribing powers to relieve pressure put on GPs.

Otsuka Pharmaceuticals has announced that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Lupkynis (Voclosporin) in combination with Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) as a treatment option for adult patients with active lupus nephritis (LN).

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has announced that it is recommending two personalised immunotherapy treatments to the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) for the treatment of aggressive forms of blood cancers.

NHS England has approved the use of AstraZeneca’s Lynparza (olaparib) for the treatment of patients with breast cancer and prostate cancer. This approval means men with advanced prostate cancer and women with her2-negative early breast cancer who are at high risk of the disease returning will be offered olaparib through the NHS in england. The decision has already received praise from charities and clinicians.

A new clinical trial is set to begin shortly, which will be a collaboration between the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Birmingham. The study will assess the efficacy of the drug dichloroacetate in managing pain for patients with endometriosis.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been limited to approving medicines in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) in the wake of Brexit, with the EMA still responsible for Northern Ireland. However, it is looking likely that a new deal with the EU will restore the agency’s authority over the whole of the United Kingdom.

A new state-of-the-art facility named the Clinical Biotechnology Centre (CBC) is opening in Bristol, UK. It cost approximately £10m to build, funded by the UK Government.

AstraZeneca has announced that it has signed an exclusive licence agreement (ELA) with KYM Biosciences for cmg901, which is an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) intended to treat gastric cancer.