WHO director-general states Vaccine nationalism must be prevented

World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against vaccine nationalism, as countries across the world secure early access to promising COVID-19 vaccines. The WHO director-general called on all countries to work collectively to end the pandemic, by sharing finites supplies “strategically and globally”. “No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing and

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Vertex and NHS reach agreement for “Landmark” CF therapy deal

Vertex has achieved an agreement with NHS England to reimburse its triple combination therapy Kaftrio (ivacaftor/tezacaftor/elexacaftor) in combination with Kalydeco (ivacaftor), should the medicine win European approval. The new expanded agreement includes reimbursed access to Vertex’ currently licensed medicines – Kalydeco (ivacaftor), Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and Symkevi (tezacaftor/ivacaftor), as well as the triple combination therapy if

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NHS and Microsoft sign significant deal for digital tools

NHSX, NHS Digital and Microsoft have signed a ‘landmark’ deal which will save the NHS ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ and enable all eligible organisations in England to access Microsoft 365 digital tools. According to NHS Digital, the agreement ‘guarantees significant cost savings for both individual NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole’, and

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Analysis by CRUK reveals 2 million are waiting for cancer care due to Coronavirus

According to Cancer Research UK, approximately 2.4 million people in the UK are currently waiting for cancer screening, tests or cancer treatment. The charity says COVID-19 has caused ‘enormous disruption’ to cancer services throughout the UK, with delays to cancer treatment, screening and diagnosis, and ‘huge decreases’ in urgent referrals to hospital of patients with

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NHS England confirms 4 new integrated care systems

NHS England has confirmed four new integrated care systems (ICS) in England, joining the 14 already in existence plus two devolved health systems in Greater Manchester and Surrey. The action leads to around half of England’s population now being served by such a system, including the whole of Yorkshire (with the confirmation of an ICS

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