The Princess of Wales visited a children’s hospital in London to officially open a new facility that will allow it to treat thousands more young patients.
they will bejoining they will be joining us live on the south just after eight o clock this morning. i look forward to having a chat with them. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. a very good morning to you from bbc london, i m alice salfield. scientists at imperial college london have devised a cheaper test that could save the lives of thousands of heart attack patients. the british heart foundation which funded the works at the quick test can help doctors to spot people at high risk of death following a suspected attack so they can be closely monitored and given more intensive treatment. a london hospital wants to raise awareness of a rare condition that affects children, and is thought to be triggered by covid 19. evelina london children s hospital was one of the first organisations in the world to identify pims or paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. the symptoms include a fever, swelling of the toes and fingers, and red rash.
with me now is dr michael absoud, a consultant in paediatric neurodisability at evelina london children s hospital and a senior author of the study. good to have you with this doctor. can you give us a sense of the fieldwork that you did, where you got your data from. fieldwork that you did, where you got your data from. yes, so this was art of got your data from. yes, so this was part of the got your data from. yes, so this was part of the covid-19 got your data from. yes, so this was part of the covid-19 symptom i got your data from. yes, so this was part of the covid-19 symptom app i part of the covid 19 symptom app that many people know. there is over 4 million people registered on the app. we had over a quarter million families, where 75,000 parents had the children tested for covid 19. eventually, we had a cohort of over 1700 children who had tested positive. we compared that you what
this is inserted into a harmless virus. in the body, the virus delivers the replacement gene into the nucleus of motor neuron cells. this is essential to prevent those cells from gradually dying. the now healthy motor neuron cells start producing the missing smn1 protein, which is vital for muscle function. how s arthur? evelina london children s hospital is one of a handful of centres in the uk which will offer this ground breaking gene therapy. i think it has the potential to make a very significant difference, to enable children to acquire motor skills such as rolling and sitting, that would have been impossible without treatment for sma. she was really floppy. she couldn t sit, - she couldn t hold toys. she couldn t do anything. tora received zolgensma in the us nearly two years ago. for her, it s been transformative.
the nhs has negotiated a confidential discount, which will mean that dozens of affected infants can be treated every year. zolgensma s benefits last at least five years and might even be permanent. that partly explains its sky high cost. but with other gene therapies on the horizon, that raises the issue of affordability. so, how does zolgensma work? it contains a healthy copy of a missing, orfaulty, gene called smn1. this is inserted into a harmless virus. in the body, the virus delivers the replacement gene into the nucleus of motor neuron cells. this is essential to prevent those cells from gradually dying. the now healthy motor neuron cells start producing the missing smn1 protein, which is vital for muscle function. how s arthur? evelina london children s hospital