Businesses rising to the challenge of tackling coronavirus

Organisations from right across the Midlands region have been coming to the fore, going to amazing lengths to support efforts to combat coronavirus.

University of Birmingham spinouts at the commercial frontline of the fight against COVID-19

Many of the University’s spinouts are working on COVID-19 related diagnostics and treatments. These include:

• The Native Antigen Company, which is collaborating with Oxgene™ to increase the production of antigens that will be used to develop diagnostics and vaccines
• Alta Biosciene, which provides a peptide synthesizing service, including peptide antigens for antibody generation
• Abingdon Health, which is mobilising its rapid test development and manufacturing operations in order to scale-up the deployment of rapid diagnostics

D2N2 appeals to businesses for Personal Protective Equipment donations

Local Enterprise Partnership D2N2 is calling on businesses from across the region to donate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to assist in the fight against COVID-19. This is to both counter shortfalls in PPE for NHS staff, and to help safeguard vulnerable members of society.

Equipment requested includes:

• Fluid-resistant surgical masks
• Nitrile gloves
• Visors and goggles
• Disposable aprons and overalls
• Sanitising gel
• Overshoes

If your business can help, please email PPE4NHS@hotmail.com, including details of what and how much PPE you can supply, plus a postcode and contact name and number.

Pennine Healthcare supplying critical products

Derby-based medical device company Pennine Healthcare is working round the clock to supply the NHS with critical products, including respiratory products, masks, gowns and oxygen tubes. The company is currently making around 1000 kilometres of tubing each month.

Chief Executive Luke Fryer said:

The whole team are working flat out to keep up with demand, it’s a challenging time but the team are fully committed and doing a great job to support the NHS and other global healthcare systems. We’re proud to play a small part in this fight against COVID-19, and would like to thank the Pennine team along with their families for their dedication and the NHS and all the frontline workers, helping us all stay safe.

Pennine supplies around 60 million medical devices each year and is the sole supplier of oxygen tubes to the English NHS.

Big step forward in coronavirus detection by Derby-based firm

SureScreen Diagnostics has developed a test that can detect coronavirus within 10 minutes and render both self-isolation and incubation unnecessary. The test checks a patient’s blood in a simple procedure and shows up coronavirus between three to seven days after infection – before symptoms begin to appear.

PHARMASEAL offers no-cost CTMS for COVID-19 clinical trials

PHARMASEAL International, provider of clinical trials management systems, has announced that it will offer the Engility^® CTMS solution at no cost for COVID-19 coronavirus clinical trials. The Nottingham-based company is making this free offer to biopharmaceutical organizations and academic institutions.