HQ Team
November 5, 2024: The UK, along with a clutch of government and private entities, has set afoot plans to create the world’s first real-time surveillance system to monitor the threat of future pandemics in the country, according to a government statement.
A new partnership is on the cards between the government, Genomics England, UK Biobank, NHS England, and Oxford Nanopore – a UK-headquartered, world-leading life sciences company, according to the statement.
Oxford Nanopore’s long-read sequencing technology will help to create an early warning system for future pandemics and potential biological threats, both preventing disease and protecting the public.
The Oxford-headquartered company uses the technology to analyse genes and pathogens to rapidly diagnose a range of cancers, along with rare and infectious diseases. The technology can sequence long strands of DNA or RNA in one go, without breaking it up into smaller fragments.
Metagenomics programme
It will be used in the expansion of NHS England’s Respiratory Metagenomics programme, being led by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT).
The technology will enable the use of samples from patients with severe respiratory infections and rapid genetic testing to match those patients with the right treatments within six hours.
“This novel and world-leading application, developed in partnership with the NHS, will allow potential outbreaks of bacterial or viral diseases to be monitored alongside antimicrobial resistance across the country,” according to the statement.
Following an initial successful pilot at St Thomas’ Hospital, the technology will now be rolled out from 10 to up to 30 NHS sites to address the current time lag between new pathogens emerging in the UK and action being taken to both treat affected patients and to prevent their spread, which will benefit people everywhere.
“If we fail to prepare, we should prepare to fail. Our NHS was already on its knees when the (Covid-19) pandemic struck, and it was hit harder than any other comparable healthcare system,” said Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting.
‘Information at fingertips’
“We cannot let history repeat itself. That’s why this historic partnership with Oxford Nanopore will ensure our world-leading scientists have the latest information on emerging threats at their fingertips,” he said.
The partnership will build on that expertise to monitor emerging diseases as they arise, putting our scientists and decision-makers one step ahead and providing the information they need to make informed decisions.”
Oxford Nanopore CEO Gordon Sanghera said: “By working alongside our partners on shared goals of improved patient outcomes – whether in cancer, genetic disease or infectious disease – and pandemic preparedness, we believe we can deploy our unique DNA sequencing technology in ways that are most impactful for the people of the UK.”
As part of the expansion to the metagenomics programme, the data gathered using Oxford Nanopore’s technology will be provided to the UK Health and Security Agency, allowing quicker detection and action on emerging infectious diseases to be taken, he said.
