Health Secretary pays tribute to UK life sciences companies, as testing ramps up for COVID-19

Commenting on the day of the 100,000 testing target, Steve Bates OBE, Chief Executive of the BIA said: “It’s gratifying to see the Government recognises the major role the UK life sciences industry has played in the collaborative, speedy and innovative national effort to increase testing capability.
 

“Companies large and small have played their part in building new testing labs, sharing kit, people and materials and contributing to crowd sourcing new testing methods.
 

“This way of working needs to become the new normal because much more testing at pace and scale across the UK will be needed in the coming months. It’s vital that further innovative approaches like next generation sequencing and saliva and stool sampling are put at the centre of the next stage of the COVID-19 testing strategy.”

Please follow this link to see the Heath Secretary thank UK life sciences companies on COVID-19 testing.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. For more information, please contact Jack Fellows, Communications and Media Manager at the BIA, [email protected] or 07825942934

 How BIA members have contributed to the UK national effort to boost COVID-19 testing:

• Three 'Super Labs’ backboned by BIA member, Thermo Fisher Scientific are up and running across the UK: https://md.catapult.org.uk/news/medicines-discovery-catapult-at-alderley-park-in-partnership-with-industry-and-academia-advancing-covid-19-testing-capacity/ 
• The Lighthouse Labs are being actively supported by pharma companies GSK and AstraZeneca, who are providing access to data and resources to further increase their capacity as they scale up at record pace.  
• GSK, AstraZeneca, and the University of Cambridge set up a new testing laboratory at the University’s Anne McLaren laboratory used for high throughput screening for COVID-19 testing and to explore the use of alternative chemical reagents for test kits in order to help overcome current supply shortages. : https://www.astrazeneca.co.uk/media-press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-gsk-university-of-cambridge-collaborate-to-support-uk-national-effort-to-boost-covid-19-testing.html.
• The Francis Crick Institute has helped to develop a testing service for NHS staff: https://www.crick.ac.uk/news/2020-04-22_francis-crick-institute-the-british-library-and-uclh-open-drive-through-coronavirus-testing-service

About the BIA 

Established over 25 years ago at the infancy of biotechnology, the BioIndustry Association (BIA) is the trade association for innovative life sciences in the UK. Our goal is to secure the UK's position as a global hub and as the best location for innovative research and commercialisation, enabling our world-leading research base to deliver healthcare solutions that can truly make a difference to people's lives.