Major Challenges Ahead - Solutions Needed Now
Challenges
0512-1a – Clinical applications of genetics
The Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HIC Fund) is seeking proposals that will accelerate the translation of genetics and genomic information into the clinical setting for prognosis, diagnosis and guiding therapy. Applications are invited which:
- Deliver innovative solutions that utilise genetic variability, including - but not limited to – screening or diagnostic tools, single-gene tests, multi-gene panels (either sequencing or array based), patient stratification tests, clinical exome or whole genome sequencing, and informatics platforms
- Improve the uptake of genetic discoveries or new technological advances into patient management pathways
- Integrate with current healthcare infrastructures
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0512-2a – Early detection and diagnosis of chronic illness or long term conditions
A chronic illness or long term condition (LTC) can only be managed and not, at present, cured. An approach to proactively combat the rise in LTCs is to develop innovative products, technologies and interventions that allow healthcare professionals to identify chronic illness or LTC earlier and treat patients more effectively. Applications are invited which:
- Provide health professionals with the tools to better understand the health status and risk of patients, particularly where multiple conditions currently exist or are likely to develop. Various technologies could be applicable e.g. diagnostics, biomarkers.
- Offer solutions that can be utilised within integrated care systems, which may involve multidisciplinary groups working across health and social care
For the purposes of this call LTCs may include, for example, coronary heart disease, stroke and transient ischaemic attack, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, epilepsy, heart failure, arthritis, mental health issues and a range of neurological conditions – particularly Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, brain and spinal injuries.
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0512-3a – Minimising the impact of trauma and serious injury
The HIC Fund is seeking solutions that will make a tangible difference to the care of trauma patients and improve long term outcomes:
- Pre-hospital care - Accurate triage is a major problem in trauma patients and often leads to inappropriate hospital admissions and inefficient use of resources. Major injuries, including burn injuries, suffer from delays in transportation to specialist facilities. Solutions are needed that will improve the immediate treatment, care, transport and recovery of patients to optimise the use of resources and reduce morbidity due to inappropriate or inadequate response.
- Acute care - Trauma and burn patients require care from a range of specialties in A&E and intensive care. In these settings, solutions that will improve acute treatment and care of trauma and burn patients and which better target and prioritise the available resources are needed.
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0512-4a – Informing clinical management through software-based analysis of complex datasets
The amount of data and information being generated from patients during even routine screening and diagnostics processes is increasing rapidly as new technologies become available and greater computing power allows more data to be captured and stored quickly and inexpensively. The HIC Fund is seeking proposals that will harness the potential of this data and make it clinically accessible and useful. For example, solutions offered could:
- Aid or guide clinical decision making
- Analyse patterns in accumulated historical and in newly acquired data to identify changes in a patient’s condition in real time or provide early warning of any deterioration
- Utilise data fusion techniques to produce “smart” alerts for patients in high-dependency areas who are monitored using static, wired or wireless physiological monitoring
- Create algorithms to extract and interpret clinically relevant information from complex datasets
- Seamlessly integrate with current hardware and software infrastructures deployed within the NHS and by other healthcare providers
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0512-5a – Repurposing of medicines and medical devices
It is not always commercially attractive to repurpose devices or drugs even though important medical benefits could be gained. This HIC Fund theme is intended to support and facilitate projects aimed at repurposing products in the wider pursuit of enhanced, affordable healthcare and which can result in early adoption by the NHS and other healthcare systems. Applications are invited which:
- Will re-purpose approved medicinal products or medical devices for use in new therapeutic indications or disease states, including (but not limited to) provision of paediatric versions of existing drugs, surgical instruments or devices
- Recombine or reuse pre-existing drugs and data for various diseases including rare or orphan ones
- Are anticipated to encounter a low regulatory hurdle and rapid progression to clinical use and adoption
- Undertake validation studies and early or small pilot scale efficacy trials
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