Mike Rea

Fantastic news that the NHS will be offering disease screening by DNA sequencing for all newborns in England. The opportunity to bring earliest possible interventions to treatable genetic diseases and transform life-long health outcomes. A huge step forward for genomic medicine. https://lnkd.in/eH7Pc6T9

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The Future Medicines Accelerator, led by LYVA Labs in partnership with Innovate UK and a consortium of sector-leading partners - Bionow, Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, Microbiome Innovation Centre, Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), Future Medicines Institute, Centre for Process Innovation, and UK National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) and is now open for applications. Applications close on 12pm 26th September. If you are: - UK-based SME (as defined by Innovate UK). - Academics in the early stages of forming an SME - Start-ups developing innovations within the scope of Future Medicines addressing clear and evidenced healthcare challenges. - At early-stage Technology Readiness Levels typically TRL2-4 - Companies with technologies, products, processes, or services that have a commercial route to market. - Organisations working in radio pharmaceuticals innovation particularly encouraged. This Accelerator is for you! Further details and application form can be found here: https://ow.ly/GYh050X1Yuu

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Topline results from NHS-Galleri missed the primary endpoint, but a missed clinical utility endpoint doesn’t support a blanket “MCED failed” conclusion. FDA’s bar for diagnostics has generally focused on clinical validity and whether the benefits outweigh the risks, with risks mitigated through labeling, appropriate follow-up pathways, and postmarket evidence generation. MCED is a cutting-edge approach aimed at real public health impact, and like any diagnostic, performance is a tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity - none are perfect. For MCED specifically, FDA-approved claims will need to track what the clinical studies actually demonstrate: which cancers can be included in the claim, at what levels of sensitivity/specificity/PPV/NPV, and with what reliability in tissue-of-origin. The field will keep improving with better evidence, better assays, and better clinical integration—and patients stand to benefit most from getting the science and the implementation right.

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This is a thorough, timely and well-written report on UK university-investor links by Tony Hickson at Cancer Research Horizons; and thank you for specifically mentioning Brandon Capital in the context of the BioCatalyst collaboration we operate across >50 medical research institutes across Australasia. This model has given us unrivalled visibility and access to early-stage ideas, and created collaborations and transparency across the ecosystem. Three points jumped out at me in Tony's report: 1) UK universities produce large numbers (hundreds) of companies, but very few (5%) ever raise significant money (>£100m). Quality always trumps quantity in company creation. 2) Historically, a relative shortage of sector-specific and unconstrained (pre)seed-stage investors that can deploy meaningful amounts of cash (>£5m) very early - crucial for creating new companies that have "legs". 3) >70% of large and late-stage venture funding (>£100m) is coming from non-UK funds. There are pros and cons to this - it shows the UK sector is robust, resilient and globally attractive, but also that much of the economic benefit is ultimately exported, and UK funds are shouldering too much early risk (certainly in biotech where significant up-rounds are rare, therefore only investing early without the means to follow-on is not economically rewarded). https://lnkd.in/ei-KgbwP

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💡 Health Data Forum 2025 – Cardiff | Debrief Yesterday’s Health Data Forum Global Hybrid Summit in Cardiff brought home a clear message: infrastructure and governance matter as much as innovation. Highlights for me: - NHS Wales showing what’s possible when Trusted Research Environments (TREs), patient-centred ethics, and WASPI-style governance align. - A strong focus on federation over centralisation — enabling insight without moving sensitive data. - Cloud, interoperability, and who really owns health data debated head-on - long may it continue... - International perspectives from the French Health Data Hub, World Health Organization, and OECD underscoring that global convergence on standards is accelerating. - Aligning standards, e.g. #SNOMED to #ICD remains a challenge. My take: Progress will not come from more pilots or bigger data lakes (at this rate, soon to become reservoirs!). It will come from federated infrastructure, harmonised pipelines, and trustworthy governance — exactly what Unison is building to deliver data interoperability without costly and time consuming physical data transformation. 👏 Thanks to the organisers, Digital Health & Care Wales, and all the speakers. Thank you Tiago Taveira-Gomes 🥷 Anna Cederlund Anna Bartlett-Avery MTG Research JOAO BREDA Finn McCartney Helen Thomas Rhodri Griffiths Emmanuel Bacry Steve MacFeely David Parsons Davide Chiarugi Andrew Roddam Ian Green Tim Napper and to anyone I missed or couldn’t find here! #HealthData #TRE #FederatedLearning #Interoperability #AIinHealthcare

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I’m delighted to share exciting news from our collaborators at PERSICA PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED - positive data from their Phase 1b clinical trial of PP353 for chronic low back pain (cLBP) has just been published in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐞𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞. Chronic low back pain, particularly in patients with 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 1 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 1/2 𝐌𝐑𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬, remains a major unmet need worldwide. In this study, PP353 demonstrated a #51% 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲, a #57% 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧, and a #63% 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 at 12 months - a remarkable outcome for patients living with persistent pain. At IMAGE ANALYSIS GROUP, we were proud to support this important work with imaging-derived insights that helped quantify both safety and efficacy outcomes. Congratulations to the Persica team, the clinical investigators, and all partners involved in advancing this promising therapy. You can read the full publication here: https://lnkd.in/eXHCa_Zp I’ll be attending the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting this year and welcome the opportunity to connect with peers interested in imaging biomarkers, musculoskeletal innovations, and collaborative approaches to accelerating therapeutic development. #LowBackPain #ClinicalImaging #Musculoskeletal #ClinicalTrials #AAOS2026 #ImagingBiomarkers

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The evidence Christopher Pudney is uncovering - not at all hidden and in very plain sight - continually shocks all of us, and without tracking the detail, and exposing the bigger picture behind it all, how would we know? Exactly what the #OnlineSafetyAct is here to tackle.

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UK biotech not broken yet, but finding its rhythm We keep hearing that the UK is losing its edge in life sciences. Yet in the first half of this year alone, biotech companies here raised £1.23 billion in venture funding. That’s not collapse, that’s resilience. But investment is only part of the story. The real test is whether we can turn that funding into faster trials, clearer regulation, and earlier access for patients. Because innovation only matters when it moves, from labs to bedside, from discovery to delivery. #UKBiotech #Innovation #HealthcareEconomics #LifeSciences #PublicHealth #RAndD #Policy

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So pleased to see Autolus Therapeutics’ obe-cell now helping leukaemia patients on the NHS. Oscar Murphy, just 28, is the first patient in England to receive the pioneering treatment on the health service for aggressive blood cancer -  a truly life-changing moment for Oscar, his family, and a landmark for UK life sciences. AUCATZYL was used at Manchester Royal Infirmary, but came from brilliant research by clinical academics like Martin Pule at UCL Cancer Institute, here in London. It shows what the UK can achieve when world-class doctors and researchers work together, backed by strong innovation, infrastructure and patient investment. The full story, including BBC coverage, is over on the UCL Business Ltd website: https://lnkd.in/eyviinD6  

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Tony Blair Institute warns UK risks falling behind in biotech As AI transforms the sector, the think tank says ‘targeted’ infrastructure reforms are needed to create a new generation of British ‘AI-native biotechs

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At the heart of the UK's life science strategy is the desire to undertake more clinical trials in the UK NHS. For patients that are waiting for treatments, where perhaps participating in a trial is their only option this is a distressing situation for them, their families and innovators.

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🇬🇧 £400 MILLION UK MANUFACTURING INVESTMENT! FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has officially opened its expanded medicine and vaccine factory on Teesside following a £400 million investment. The Japanese maker of biologics, vaccines, and advanced drugs says the Billingham site is now the UK's largest single use, contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO). Fujifilm says the expansion, on the site which employs 960 people, adds new bioreactors giving the facility a 19,000 litre capacity. The 110,000 sq ft factory is due to be operational in the first half of 2026. Meanwhile, the opening of the Bioprocess Innovation Centre provides laboratory space and will act as a global centre of excellence for biomanufacturing and development work. At more than 102,200 sq ft, the facility doubles the site's existing lab space. Together, the facilities are intended to give Fujifilm's global manufacturing network a bigger capacity, and the ability to make complex medicines for conditions such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and rare disorders.

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Was a nice surprise for Datapharm to be mentioned by BBC Morning Live today, on the topic of medicine side effects. As the providers of emc (medicines.org.uk), we surveyed patients very recently to ask about their opinions and habits on the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL). 41% said they hadn't read it, and of those who had, 63% still visited the PIL on emc as they prefer to look at information online. Many a patient will tell you, it's a lot of information to take in on a small piece of paper - personally, I'm looking forward to the point where patient information can be filtered or tailored to the patient. Datapharm is working with Pharma on the next generation of patient information, with ePILs providing information which is structured and made more accessible. There's a lot of potential for where we can take this! #Healthcare #medicinesinformation #patientinformation #ePI #ePILs

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As the creators of the FishburneTabs™, we are excited that our fabulous UK partners at Salvivo Ltd have been awarded this prestigious grant to investigate novel applications of the FishburneTabs platform. 

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Anthropic launches Claude for Small Business - a plugin for Claude Cowork... sounds very impressive, and like it may be a lot faster and cheaper route to having solutions than paying a consultant to do simple things... https://lnkd.in/eNH83CN6

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For people living with rare conditions, innovation needs to be enabled. This report sets out how smarter policy can help make that happen.

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Serox Limited and Dxcover feature in the upcoming cover story of Money Week, leading the charge in liquid biopsy innovation in the UK. The article urges investors to "Back the front line in the battle against cancer." I fully support this message and advocate for increased support from investors for novel diagnostic tools like ours with a higher risk profile, especially in the UK.

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Lenti with Friends EP3 is about to drop! Simon Boa shares his insight on the state of the cell and gene therapy pipeline: "a game of two halves" The nicest person in Scottish Biotech is without question Simon Boa. So I was delighted when he agreed to come on our wee podcast to share his insights on the state of the Cell and Gene Therapy pipeline. The football/soccer aphorism he used was that "it's a game of two halves". What does that mean? 1) Overall Revenue Forecast is Strong: According to Simon, the revenue projections from Alliance for Regenerative Medicine and "his people" at Global Data support strong commercial growth for CGT assets of 35-40% CAGR. 2) The clinical pipeline also looks strong. OK, there does seem to be a bit of a shortage of phase 3 assets, as they only represent about 2% of the total number (versus 8% for other modalities). However, this is to be expected as CGT is still somewhat naescent. The rest of the pipeline is on a par with other modalities through the clinical phases. 3) The base looks thin for CGT Preclinical and discovery for other modalities like mAbs sit around the 26% mark. For CGT this is at 17% of assets, which is a material difference that will shake out into the growth potential if not corrected. So where the top half of the CGT pipeline is looking really promising, the discovery/preclinical half is quite weak. Simon commented that this was probably due to the current funding environment. Now you may think that this is yet more gloom for a beleaguered CGT sector - but its not all it seems! Simon also shares with us his analysis on investment, that is actually growing YoY - especially if you discount the pandemic years. My take is that this is still an emerging sector, so a handful of assets in the pipeline can change the percentages quite sharply. What thoughts do you guys have? UPDATE: The new episode has now dropped and is available at this link: https://lnkd.in/ejKkp7g4 Previous episodes are either on the Spotify or Lentitek pages in that link.

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