News round-up (20 November)

Here are some of the stories that caught our eye this week

Expanded study tests immune response of care home staff and residents

An expansion of the current Vivaldi study will test thousands more care home staff and residents for their immune response to COVID-19.

The Vivaldi 2 study will more than triple in size to provide a detailed picture of coronavirus infection in care homes in England. These findings will help improve understanding of these vulnerable groups’ immune response to COVID-19 and help inform future treatments for the virus.

NHS launches 40 ‘long COVID’ clinics to tackle persistent symptoms

The NHS will launch a network of more than 40 ‘long COVID’ specialist clinics within weeks to help thousands of patients suffering debilitating effects of the virus months after being infected.

The clinics, due to start opening at the end of November, will bring together doctors, nurses, therapist and other NHS staff to physical and psychological assessments of those experiencing enduring symptoms

Warning as antibiotic resistant infections rise among patients across England

The Independent reports an increase in the number of patients with an antibiotic resistant infection across England with some infections rising by a third since 2015.

In the latest Public Health England annual report on the threat of antimicrobial resistance, the organisation revealed the number of resistant infections in England rose to 178 a day in 2019.

Thanks for polluting the planet: emails blamed for climate change

The FT reports that British officials working on plans to tackle climate change have found a new threat to the planet: millions of unnecessary emails sent every day. Including those that say nothing more than “thanks”.

The UK is looking at innovative ways to cut carbon emissions in the run up to the UN COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow next year.

It’s time to talk digital trade

This blog on the UK Trade Policy Observatory website focuses on the UK-Japan agreement on digital trade. 

It says there is an urgent need for more scrutiny of provisions in the agreement relating to cross-border data flow and privacy, algorithm disclosure and accountability, plus internet regulation and online intermediary liability rules.

InterVenn Biosciences Raises $34M For Ovarian Cancer Immuno-oncology Therapies

The San Francisco-based company InterVenn Biosciences has raised $34 million for a a first-of-its-kind High-Throughput-Glycoproteomic powered diagnostic tool, targeting ovarian cancer, for clinical use by early next year.  

The initiative is using artificial intelligence and mass spectrometry to develop precision medicine capabilities, to find treatments for ovarian, pancreatic, liver, prostate and kidney cancers.