News
Alex Bartel/Science Photo Library
UK Government announces new life sciences inquiry
Published Online August 4, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-2600(17)30298-9 For more on the Industrial Strategy see https://www.gov. uk/government/policies/ industrial-strategy For MyCOPD see https://mymhealth.com/mycopd
On July 21, 2017, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee announced it was going to launch an inquiry into Life Sciences and the Industrial Strategy. The inquiry will investigate whether the UK Government has the necessary struc tures in place to support the life sciences sector and how the NHS can use procurement to stimulate innovation. The committee also intends to evaluate a new life sciences strategy due to be published shortly. One of the key pillars of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, published as a Green Paper in January, 2017, is stimulating innov ation through government procure ment, including within the health sector. In this area, the Government has started taking forward recom mendations made in a 2016 review on speeding up patient access to new
technologies. An innovation already being supported is MyCOPD—an online tool that has helped more than 32 000 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease im prove their breathing, manage flare ups and track medicine use, thus reducing reliance on primary care and hospital appointments. The new life sciences strategy is being drawn up by Sir John Bell (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK), and takes forward another pledge in the Industrial Strategy to create a new strategy “to make the UK the best place in the world to invest in life sciences”. “There are particular opportunities within the life sciences industry strategy in the field of respiratory medicine”, Prof Stephen Holgate (Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK) told The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. “The creation
of the Health Advanced Research Programme requires multiple part ners and funders, including charities and the NHS, to tackle intransigent diseases and cancer. There is also great opportunity for introducing genomics routinely into respiratory medicine, as begun by the Genomics England project for rare diseases and cancer of which respiratory disease has its fair share.” The Science and Technology Committee is now inviting written submissions on issues such as what can be learnt from the last Government life sciences strategy, published in 2011; how the success of the new strategy might be measured against its stated objectives; and whether the Government should appoint a dedicated Life Sciences Minister.
Kathryn Clark
David Parker/Science Photo Library
Diesel and petrol cars to be banned by 2040
Published Online August 4, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-2600(17)30299-0 For more on the draft plan see https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/plan-forroadside-no2-concentrationspublished
684
Following a similar policy announce ment in France, the UK Government has announced a pledge to end the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040. The move is aimed at curbing emissions thereby improving respiratory health, as well as reducing global climate change. In addition to the pledge to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars and trucks, the plan also makes £255 million available (with £40 million available immediately) for local governments to do feasibility studies and draft local plans on reducing pollution. This is in addition to £100 million in funding previously announced aimed at allowing local governments to retrofit and purchase new, low emission buses. The plan also touts the reduction in air quality that existing policies have already accomplished, including a 95% decrease in sulphur dioxide
emissions and a 73% decrease in particulate matter since 1970. Although many experts welcomed the draft plan, others warned that it did not go far enough in working toward mitigating the immediate effects of diesel and petrol emissions. “This Govern ment’s commitment is in the right direction”, Prof Jonathan Grigg (Queen Mary University of London, London, UK), said. “But the short-term proposals to deal with this public health emergency are woefully inadequate. The overall strategy of not inconveniencing motorists limits local authorities to changes that are unlikely to reduce exposure of vulnerable populations such as adults with cardiovascular and respiratory disease. To achieve a major reduction in personal exposure requires national policy aimed at removing the toxic fleet of
diesel cars and light vans from our roads as soon as possible.” Dr Penny Woods (Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, London, UK) agreed that the Government’s commitment was only a half measure. “The Government’s new air quality plan and its flagship proposal to ban new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 shows a disappointing lack of urgency”, she said. “Safe air pollution levels are being breached every day in Britain, contributing to 40 000 early deaths a year in the UK. It’s a major public health emergency. People with a lung condition, the elderly and children are most at risk. The scale of the challenge we face to clean up the air we breathe demands urgent action, today. The nation’s lung health demands nothing less.”
Aaron van Dorn
www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 5 September 2017
Alex Bartel/Science Photo Library
UK Government announces new life sciences inquiry
Published Online August 4, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-2600(17)30298-9 For more on the Industrial Strategy see https://www.gov. uk/government/policies/ industrial-strategy For MyCOPD see https://mymhealth.com/mycopd
On July 21, 2017, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee announced it was going to launch an inquiry into Life Sciences and the Industrial Strategy. The inquiry will investigate whether the UK Government has the necessary struc tures in place to support the life sciences sector and how the NHS can use procurement to stimulate innovation. The committee also intends to evaluate a new life sciences strategy due to be published shortly. One of the key pillars of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, published as a Green Paper in January, 2017, is stimulating innov ation through government procure ment, including within the health sector. In this area, the Government has started taking forward recom mendations made in a 2016 review on speeding up patient access to new
technologies. An innovation already being supported is MyCOPD—an online tool that has helped more than 32 000 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease im prove their breathing, manage flare ups and track medicine use, thus reducing reliance on primary care and hospital appointments. The new life sciences strategy is being drawn up by Sir John Bell (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK), and takes forward another pledge in the Industrial Strategy to create a new strategy “to make the UK the best place in the world to invest in life sciences”. “There are particular opportunities within the life sciences industry strategy in the field of respiratory medicine”, Prof Stephen Holgate (Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK) told The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. “The creation
of the Health Advanced Research Programme requires multiple part ners and funders, including charities and the NHS, to tackle intransigent diseases and cancer. There is also great opportunity for introducing genomics routinely into respiratory medicine, as begun by the Genomics England project for rare diseases and cancer of which respiratory disease has its fair share.” The Science and Technology Committee is now inviting written submissions on issues such as what can be learnt from the last Government life sciences strategy, published in 2011; how the success of the new strategy might be measured against its stated objectives; and whether the Government should appoint a dedicated Life Sciences Minister.
Kathryn Clark
David Parker/Science Photo Library
Diesel and petrol cars to be banned by 2040
Published Online August 4, 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-2600(17)30299-0 For more on the draft plan see https://www.gov.uk/ government/news/plan-forroadside-no2-concentrationspublished
684
Following a similar policy announce ment in France, the UK Government has announced a pledge to end the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040. The move is aimed at curbing emissions thereby improving respiratory health, as well as reducing global climate change. In addition to the pledge to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars and trucks, the plan also makes £255 million available (with £40 million available immediately) for local governments to do feasibility studies and draft local plans on reducing pollution. This is in addition to £100 million in funding previously announced aimed at allowing local governments to retrofit and purchase new, low emission buses. The plan also touts the reduction in air quality that existing policies have already accomplished, including a 95% decrease in sulphur dioxide
emissions and a 73% decrease in particulate matter since 1970. Although many experts welcomed the draft plan, others warned that it did not go far enough in working toward mitigating the immediate effects of diesel and petrol emissions. “This Govern ment’s commitment is in the right direction”, Prof Jonathan Grigg (Queen Mary University of London, London, UK), said. “But the short-term proposals to deal with this public health emergency are woefully inadequate. The overall strategy of not inconveniencing motorists limits local authorities to changes that are unlikely to reduce exposure of vulnerable populations such as adults with cardiovascular and respiratory disease. To achieve a major reduction in personal exposure requires national policy aimed at removing the toxic fleet of
diesel cars and light vans from our roads as soon as possible.” Dr Penny Woods (Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, London, UK) agreed that the Government’s commitment was only a half measure. “The Government’s new air quality plan and its flagship proposal to ban new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 shows a disappointing lack of urgency”, she said. “Safe air pollution levels are being breached every day in Britain, contributing to 40 000 early deaths a year in the UK. It’s a major public health emergency. People with a lung condition, the elderly and children are most at risk. The scale of the challenge we face to clean up the air we breathe demands urgent action, today. The nation’s lung health demands nothing less.”
Aaron van Dorn
www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 5 September 2017
