London, UK, 26 September 2017 / Sciad Newswire / - NPL, the UK's National Measurement Institute, will re-launch this month to help ensure the UK continues to lead the world in translating life sciences research, accelerating access to new diagnosis and treatment techniques, and helping to support rapid adoption of advanced healthcare technologies across the country. This new approach will see NPL focus on tackling some of the world's biggest health challenges, from supporting the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and dementia, to reducing attrition rates in drug development, to creating new antibiotics.

Life sciences are a major component of the current economic base of the UK with the sector generating £64 billion of turnover, and employing more than 233,000 scientists and staff[1]. Yet there are challenges in this area. For example, the UK has one of the lowest age-standardised cancer incidence rates of rich countries, but one of the highest mortality rates; fewer UK citizens survive a diagnosis of cancer than they should. In addition, an ageing population is leading to a rise in chronic conditions, such as diabetes which make patients more susceptible to infections. While the NHS spends approximately £12bn a year on drug treatments in England alone[2], these are only effective in 30-60% of the population.

Good measurement is vital to addressing these issues, and improving patient outcomes. It enables better understanding of diseases and the effectiveness of new innovations to fight them, ensures accurate dosage and delivery of treatments, and helps pharmaceutical developers to 'fail fast' by spotting issues such as toxicity sooner.
For more than a century, NPL has maintained the UK's measurement standards, and provided technologies and skills based on those standards for industry and the healthcare system. It currently provides the underpinning confidence in radiotherapy treatments across all UK treatment centres, to ensure accuracy and effectiveness of treatment while minimising side effects. In re-launching, NPL will expand its role in providing traceability of, and confidence in, new diagnostic tools, treatments, and medical technologies, to get them from the lab to patients more quickly, and to deliver increasingly personalised treatment.

The re-launch is in direct response to government policy, including the Accelerated Access Review and more recently the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy report, as well as extensive consultation with pharmaceutical companies, clinicians and equipment manufacturers. The re-launch sees NPL unveiling a number of new programmes and facilities to accelerate access to medical innovation:

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