NIHR funds life-saving treatments and faster diagnosis at BWC

Funding of £1.5m has been awarded to BHP founder-member Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust – enabling quicker access to life-saving treatments and faster diagnosis of rare and infectious diseases. 

This National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding boost will be used for two crucial initiatives: building a specialised Aseptic Pharmacy Unit for clinical trials, which has been designed to prepare medicines which must be used quickly; and to purchase a Nanopore genetics sequencer. This equipment can read much longer stretches of genetic code than before, which speeds up and improves diagnosis and testing of new treatments.

Professor Jeremy Kirk, Director of Research and Development at the Trust, said: “This is a true game changer in the world of research and will give our patients access to more clinical trials. 

“The Trust is nationally recognised for its contribution to genetics, and collaborative research working with partners across the region and beyond. 

“This funding will allow our teams to enhance current genetic testing (whole genome sequencing) by reading longer sections of the DNA that makes up the genome, moving from so-called short to long-read technologies. This shift will allow detection of genetic variants that would otherwise remain undetected, leading to faster diagnoses and earlier access to targeted treatments for our patients.” 

The equipment will also increase the number of trials delivered in the area in partnership with commercial sponsors such as pharmaceutical companies. 

The Trust is host to the Central and North West Midlands Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CRDC). This consists of a network of hospitals, community and GP sites which are paired with commercial partners to host clinical trials leading to faster set up.  

Jeremy added: “Expanding the number of patients eligible for clinical trials through rapid analysis of their entire genetic code, and improved pharmacy services will also increase our opportunities to collaborate with commercial partners. This includes the development of innovative treatments such as cell and gene therapies including editing for rare diseases and cancers, and the delivery of new, pioneering treatments to those who need them most.”