The U.K. government plans to launch a real-time surveillence system to track respiratory disease and spot 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 sensing technology can analyse genes and pathogens quickly, speeding up the diagnosis of things like infectious disease and cancer.
The U.K. wants to use the tech on patients with suspected severe acute respiratory infections. It should allow doctors to accurately diagnose their disease — and choose the best available treatment — within six hours.
This is much faster than the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests many members of the public took during the COVID-19 pandemic. PCR results can take a day or even longer to come back.
Spotting a pandemic
Experts involved in an existing genomics scheme 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 more hospital trusts so it can offer an insight into disease levels across the country.
National public health body the UK 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 big health emergency.
“We’ve been working on the respiratory metagenomics program for over four years and have clearly seen the benefit to our patients,” said Guy’s and St Thomas’ chief executive, Ian Abbs.
Now “we can ensure 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 U.K. Biobank are formally partnering with Oxford Nanopore to apply its technology across several areas of healthcare. The firm is a private company originally founded at The University of Oxford.
“This historic partnership… will ensure our world-leading scientists have the latest information on emerging threats at their fingertips,” Streeting added.
Beyond a pandemic
The government also eyeing antomicrobial 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 at Genomics England will use Oxford Nanopore’s technology to improve their understanding of cancer, with the goal of identifying genomic mutations that can increase the risk of the disease.
Some of these mutations may be treatable, potentially preventing some cases of cancer.
Oxford Nanopore CEO Gordon Sanghera believes his company’s “unique DNA/RNA sequencing technology” can help the government improve patient outcomes across cancer, human genetic disease and infectious disease.
The firm can sequence long strands of DNA and RNA without needing to split them up 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 illness.
