North of England secures new ‘centres of excellence’ in ‘precision medicine’
pharmafile | October 27, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development | NHS, Northern Health Science Alliance, UK
The umbrella group formed by the leading northern universities, teaching hospitals and Academic Health Science Networks – the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) – has welcomed the decision to locate two new scientific ‘Centres of Excellence’ in the region.
The Centres of Excellence will focus on precision medicine, and form part of the Government-backed Precision Medicine “Catapult”, the name given to the network of technology and innovation centres bringing together businesses, scientists and engineers.
The term ‘precision medicine’ refers to a new targeted approach in medicine, which combines accurate diagnosis with rules-based therapies and effective service delivery to improve patient outcomes.
Launched in April 2015, the Precision Medicine Catapult focuses on transforming the UK into the world’s most attractive destination for the development and delivery of precision medicine.
The Chancellor of Exchequer, George Osborne, recently announced that while the Precision Medicine Catapult would be headquartered in Cambridge, it would build a network of physical centres across the UK with experience of precision medicine across many disciplines.
Responding to the news that the NHSA had been successful in pushing for at least two of these centres to be based in the North of England, the Alliance said that it validated the expertise of the North’s universities, teaching hospitals and Academic Health Science Networks.
The news quickly follows a separate announcement by the Medical Research Council, that two other members of the NHSA had been chosen as “Molecular Pathology Nodes” – meaning centres of innovative molecular diagnostic test discovery and development. In this capacity, The University of Manchester and Newcastle University will work on developing molecular diagnostic tools to identify more targeted groups of patients in various disease areas such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
The Centres of Excellence announcement forms part of the wider flagship Government initiative being delivered by the NHSA, called “Health North”. The project aims to unlock healthcare innovations in the English regions facing the greatest health challenges.
As part of Health North, the NHSA is piloting “Connected Health Cities”, a project which will assemble data, experts and technology to identify variations in care and needs. During the March Budget statement, the Chancellor awarded £20 million to the NHSA to support this initiative.
Dr Hakim Yadi, CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance, comments: “We are delighted to see the expertise of the North’s universities, teaching hospitals and Academic Health Science Networks validated in this way. This news supercharges the Northern Powerhouse, and is the result of the North working together to highlight the region’s strengths in precision medicine.”
Joel Levy
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