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A young woman coughs on the street.
The British government plans to launch a real-time surveillance system to track respiratory diseases and detect a future pandemic.
The “world-first” program will use rapid diagnostic technology from a private genomics company to identify and monitor potential outbreaks of bacterial or viral diseases, as well as antimicrobial resistance.
Oxford Nanopore’s molecular detection technology can quickly analyze genes and pathogens, accelerating the diagnosis of things like infectious diseases and cancer.
Great Britain wants to use the technology in patients with suspected severe acute respiratory infections. It should allow doctors to accurately diagnose their disease within six hours and choose the best available treatment.
This is much faster than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that many members of the public have been conducting during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may take a day or even longer for the PCR results to come back.
Discovering a pandemic
Experts involved in an existing genomics program at major London hospital provider Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust will use the technology to expand their program.
Leaders will roll out the technology to between 10 and 30 additional hospital trusts so it can provide insight into disease levels across the country.
The UK’s national public health agency, the Health and Security Agency, will use the test results to better monitor emerging infectious diseases and ensure the country is better prepared for the next major health crisis.
“We have been working on the respiratory metagenomics program for more than four years and have clearly seen the benefits for our patients,” said Ian Abbs, CEO of Guy’s and St. Thomas.
Now “we can ensure that other hospitals, and more patients, can also benefit from faster and more accurate treatment,” he added in a statement.
‘We cannot let history repeat itself’
The country’s public health service was “hit harder than any other comparable healthcare system” by COVID-19, according to Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting. “We cannot let history repeat itself,” he said.
Several government organizations, including Genomics England and the UK Biobank, are formally working with Oxford Nanopore to apply its technology to various areas of healthcare. The company is a private company originally founded at the University of Oxford.
“This historic partnership… will ensure our leading scientists have the latest information on emerging threats at their fingertips,” Streeting added.
Beyond a pandemic
The government also sees antimicrobial resistance – where bacteria adapt to better evade existing drugs – and cancer as key targets for the partnership.
The country’s public hospitals are already struggling to meet demand for cancer services, which is expected to grow as the population ages.
Experts from Genomics England will use Oxford Nanopore’s technology to improve their understanding of cancer, with the aim of identifying genomic mutations that could increase the risk of the disease.
Some of these mutations may be treatable, potentially preventing certain cases of cancer.
Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore believes His company’s “unique DNA/RNA sequencing technology” could help the government improve patient outcomes in cancer, human genetic diseases and infectious diseases.
The company can sequence long DNA and RNA strands without having to break them into smaller parts. This speeds up the process of extracting genomic information from patient samples.
Doctors can then use this information to quickly match patients with the best treatments for their disease.