United Kingdom
Cambridge, UK-based breath biopsy company Owlstone Medical will apply its volatile organic compound analysis platform in an attempt to develop a test for the identification and monitoring of pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.
Medtech Insight sat down with Anja Streicher, chief marketing officer at Women of Wearables, a global community offering events and education resources to support the femtech industry, to discuss trends in the women's wearables tech market, challenges and innovators pushing the boundaries.
Britain’s medtech system progress, smarter ways of working at the agency and getting smarter AI and digital technologies into circulation for patients, were themes woven through the UK MHRA board’s 18 March meeting.
Wearable technology must address women’s unique needs, said Anja Streicher, Women of Wearables chief marketing officer. Samphire Neuroscience and Amira Health demo wearable solutions for PMS and hot flashes at Wired Health.
Centralized decisions and cost savings are targeted in the UK government’s plan to combine much of NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care. The action will likely divert resources away from health ministry efforts to launch the 10-Year Care Plan, but how else will medtechs be impacted?
Careology and Entia are partnering to “alleviate the burden of routine patient assessments” on people with cancer. The two early-stage London-based health tech startups already provide services to UK National Health Service (NHS) patients.
Insight into the knock-on effects on innovation adoption and procurement is keenly awaited by medtechs.
Most fees and fee uplifts proposed by the UK MHRA to begin in April 2025 will be implemented on schedule. A general 8.85% increase will be applied to all statutory fees, but the new medical devices registration fee is subject to ongoing review and/or alternative options.
Lawrence Tallon will succeed June Raine as MHRA chief executive on 1 April. UK medtechs will prioritize an early meeting with the man who since 2020 has served as deputy chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas' NHS Trust.
Implementing a reflex test alongside traditional prostate cancer screening is cost-effective for high-risk groups, claims Prostate Cancer Research. Oxford BioDynamics sheds light on UK market conditions influencing the adoption of its reflex test, EpiSwitch PSE.
Assimilated EU medtech law used in Great Britain will not be sunsetted on 26 May 2025, as originally provided for. That was the first decision published by the MHRA in the wake of its recent consultation on shaping the regulatory system.
MELD Graph could help speed up the diagnosis and treatment of people with epilepsy by spotting "invisible" brain lesions often missed by radiologists. The new open-source AI tool developed by UK researchers could save the NHS up to $70,000 per patient, said researchers.
The digital health market includes thousands of app-based solutions targeting single health conditions, but the cost, complexity and number of options “gives too many opportunities to health care systems to say no,” said Mike Trenell, Daiser CEO. The second generation of digital health might have the answers, he said.
Researchers from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Center are testing Digostics’ GTT@home test in children to assess if it offers a better alternative to the clinical gold-standard oral glucose tolerance test.
Medtechs watch with interest as NICE, a long-standing component of market access for innovative technologies in the National Health Service, vows to get to grips with technology programs that often miss the target for developers of groundbreaking solutions.
Oxford BioDynamics' blood-based colorectal cancer diagnostic test EpiSwitch NST has shown high accuracy (81-85%) and positive predictive values (57-87%) for colorectal cancer and polyps. By reducing false positives, the test could minimize unnecessary follow-up procedures.
The MHRA’s post-market surveillance regulations for Great Britain will be followed in 2026 by a pre-market regulation, but its progress will not be steered by the agency’s erstwhile leader of device system transformation. The ABHI’s Steve Lee and Phil Brown ponder where national device system regulation – and the MHRA – go next.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft guidance limits tissue biopsy collection in clinical trials to primary endpoints and specific research use cases. However, Andrew Newland, CEO of circulating tumor cell (CTC) liquid biopsy firm Angle Plc, believes that the guidance could enhance the market for liquid biopsy makers.
The UK's established emergency care prehospital system potentially opens up a faster route to market for Front Line Medical Technologies's aortic occlusion device, COBRA-OS. Asha Parekh, Front Line CEO, talks to Medtech Insight about the company's different strategic approach to UK market access in comparison to North America.
Stock prices for liquid biopsy firm Angle Plc are up since 28 January after the release of new research. The study used Angle’s technology to detect clinically relevant mutations in circulating tumor cells that were not found in traditional circulating DNA, allowing for further insights into cancer progression, Andrew Newland, Angle CEO, told Medtech Insight.