Wes Streeting 'blown away' by Leeds students' vaccine technology that could save NHS millions
Wes Streeting has said he is “blown away” by some of the healthcare innovation taking place in Leeds, as he launched a new medicines regulator office in the city.
The Health Secretary visited the University of Leeds today to announce the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be opening a digital hub in Wellington Place - its main base outside the South East.
Mr Streeting was shown a virtual reality simulator - the largest in the country - designed to help make street crossings and roads safer for children and new vaccine technology created by two university students, which could save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds.
He told The Yorkshire Post that these projects meant that focusing on the Golden Triangle - of London, Cambridge and Oxford - “feels a little bit out of date now”.
“Those three cities are amazing and will continue to be globally leading science success stories, but so is Leeds.”
Mr Streeting said this showed the city was becoming a “global leader” in life sciences and healthcare innovation.
In particular, the Health Secretary appeared astonished by the vaccine technology being developed by two university students - Henry Dunne and Ian Bartenev, both 23.
In their second year of undergraduate study, at the University of Leeds, when the pair were stuck in their flat due to Covid, they began developing microneedle technology which could revolutionise the vaccination process.
They have now created a patch, with multiple tiny microneedles, which allows patients to easily administer a vaccine at home by simply applying the patch to your skin and pressing a button.
It would allow the entire country to be vaccinated in a couple of days during a pandemic, and Mr Streeting was particularly excited about the potential to save time and resources from GPs and pharmacists.
“If successful, this will mean we can deploy vaccines ourselves on our own skin with a little touch of a button, painless and very cheap and effective,” Mr Streeting explained.
“That could be world-leading, game-changing technology.
“The amazing thing is they started as Leeds undergraduates they were spotted and supported by the university.
“They're now supported by the wider science ecosystem here, with the funding, the lab space, the access to support to help them be not just great scientists, but great entrepreneurs.
“They are the epitome of the Leeds success story.”
Leeds North West MP Katie White, who joined the visit, added: “Meeting these brilliant Leeds scientists was truly inspiring.
“As students during lockdown, they turned a bold idea into ground-breaking vaccine technology, showing exactly why Leeds is the UK capital for health tech innovation.”
Mr Streeting said this was the perfect example of how the new MHRA hub would work “in lockstep” with innovators to get projects off the ground.
Lawrence Tallon, chief executive of the MHRA, explained: “Leeds is clearly the pre-eminent place for us to open our next site, outside of our South East and London sites.
“We're here because of the vibrant tech scene, the talent that's available, and the ability for us to recruit the kind of high-skilled professionals that are going to help us regulate the next generation of health technologies.”
The MHRA will start with 30 employees and has been speaking to the Financial Conduct Authority, the city regulator, about its growth to more than 200 staff in the city in several years.
Mr Streeting added: “I think that just underscores to Leeds, to the wider region, and also to people who are looking nationally and internationally at Leeds, that this is where it's at.
“And that actually Leeds, which is already a big part of Britain's science superpower, is only going to go from strength to strength.”