PharmaTimes -
April 2021
With the anchor now securely lodged in 2021, what’s on the horizon for the life sciences industry and for healthcare in the UK? Certainly for healthcare, the tide seems to be turning again. As the team at Wilmington outlines on page 16, the government is proposing some of the most important reforms for health and social care in nearly a decade, which plan a shift away from competition towards collaborative working, but also seek to hand more power to ministers to intervene in decisions on healthcare services.
Elsewhere, Dr Kath MacKay looks into three areas for development in the UK life sciences sector in the years ahead: the end of malaria, the commercial appeal of science and quantum computing and health data (p18), while on page 22 Gilead’s Frances Luff emphasises the importance of the NICE methods review, and the opportunity it presents for enhancing how the value of innovative therapies is measured in today’s landscape.
Patient Files: HIV
When were you diagnosed with HIV?
I was diagnosed with HIV 14 years ago on March 19.
Can you describe the journey that led to your diagnosis?
I ended up at my local sexual health clinic after having unprotected sex with my partner who I had not long split up with. He said he had not had sex with anybody else since us parting, but not long after, I felt I had gotten an STI from him. Whilst it was considered that I was probably incredibly low risk for HIV, I decided to have the test, as I had not always practised safe sex. I got a call about a week later asking to come back to the clinic; I thought this didn’t sound good but still didn’t really think I was going to be told that I was HIV positive.