MAGGIE PAGANO: Britain’s brilliant biotech champion shines

Britain’s brilliant biotech scientists have done it again. The brains at Oxford BioDynamics have come up with a blood screening test for prostate cancer which has a 94pc efficacy rate, a stunning level of accuracy to detect the presence or otherwise of cancer.

It is a cracking breakthrough as the existing PSA test has only a 55pc accuracy and is considered highly unreliable by many NHS doctors.

If results show an elevated PSA level, patients often face more invasive screenings, such as a prostate biopsy, which itself poses health risks. Yet it has been shown that three quarters of men who do undergo the biopsy – and suffer its discomfort – did not need to have one. Now they don’t need to go through the agony or the angst.

Known as the EpiSwitch Prostate Screening (PSE), this test works alongside the existing PSA one. It works like this. The PSE combines the PSA score with five other proprietary epigenetic biomarkers.

The success rate is high. Three out of ten benefit from the standard PSA whereas nine out of ten will be diagnosed successfully with the two together. Oxford’s PSE test was launched in the UK and the US yesterday after clearing all clinical hurdles, and is available to private patients.

The brains at Oxford BioDynamics have come up with a blood screening test for prostate cancer which has a 94pc efficacy rate (stock image)

The costs of the test are absorbed between the patient’s doctor and health insurer, with results back within five days.

It is an innovation that chief executive, Jon Burrows, wants to get into the hands of GPs in the NHS as quickly as he can.

He has yet to apply to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the health body which approves new tests and drugs, but hopes the NHS will fast-track the test once it’s been cleared.

Both Nice and the NHS should move swiftly. Around 50,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, so the earlier the diagnosis, the better the prognosis. As Burrows told me, using the new test will save the NHS a huge amount of money because clinics won’t need to carry out biopsies or use MRIs scans.

‘We should have a national scheme to screen all men over 50,’ he said. ‘It’s a win for everyone.’

As you can imagine, Oxford’s shares raced sky-high on the launch. The benefits are a no-brainer. They more than doubled in price to 26.8p, valuing the Aim-listed biotech specialist at £54.6m.

What’s refreshing to hear too is that most of Oxford’s investors are British. Over the last year Burrows and his team of 50 have raised £14m for expansion and lab facilities.

Both the life science and the biotech sectors have been undervalued for the last year but you can now feel a real shift in perception taking place.

The combined industries are amongst our most successful – as this latest creation demonstrates. Keep them coming.

 It is a cracking breakthrough as the existing PSA test has only a 55pc accuracy (stock photo)

Warning shot

JP Morgan’s billionaire boss, Jamie Dimon, has a knack of making juicy headlines. His latest CNBC TV18 interview in India was no exception with his warning that US interest rates may have to go as high as 7pc – and stay higher longer – to contain inflation.

But it was Dimon’s comments about geopolitics which were more poignant, and of more importance. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a far greater risk, he said, than inflation, deficits or indeed a US recession.

More dangerous in Dimon’s opinion is how the war has polarised global powers, upsetting the balance of power in a way not seen since the Second World War.

What bothers him the most is the strained nature of relations between the US and China. He added that Americans should stop thinking of China as a ten-foot giant, and count their blessings that they have food and freedom.

Tongue in cheek no doubt, he added that, of course, JP Morgan is not the one which makes US foreign policy. Knowing Dimon, that sounded like a blistering warning shot being fired over the White House.

Hollywood strikes again

One Hollywood strike may be coming to an end but the fall-out continues as the huge loss reported by Videndum shows.

Yet the impact goes far deeper. Hundreds of British filmmakers, lighting experts and cameramen – mainly working as freelance contractors – haven’t been paid for months because of the shut-down. They were stuck in limbo, unable to claim benefits or find temporary work as they were still technically contracted. No doubt they will get their revenge on the actors and writers, holding them up once the cameras are rolling again.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk