Patients are starting to benefit from one of the UK’s first total-body PET scanners, brought to St Thomas’ Hospital in London by the National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP).
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, unveiled the scanner on 27 November, praising the cutting-edge technology and its potential to unlock medical breakthroughs.
The Ministers were joined by the first patient to use NPIP’s scanner, Sarah Corfield, who has stage four melanoma. Sarah has been a patient at Guy’s and St Thomas’ since 2018 and has had regular three-monthly PET scans during that time as part of the diagnoses and treatment for her condition.
Sarah said:
“I’ve had so many PET scans, so I’m very used to the experience. Previously, the scans would take 30 minutes, the bed was very hard and the scanning table would move in and out, capturing the different images. It could be quite noisy, too.
“The new scanner was a good experience – it felt very open, and not at all claustrophobic. It was much quicker – I was done in 15 minutes, and they told me the images were much higher quality.
“It was very smooth. I just lay there, like on a sun lounger, thinking of my little dog, Maggie. It was very smooth and much quieter.”
During a tour of NPIP’s total-body PET scanner at St Thomas’ Hospital, the Ministers were provided with a live demonstration of the scanner. They also met with representatives from NPIP, including Professor Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, to learn more about how the national platform benefits both patients and researchers.
The total-body PET scanners, supplied by Siemens Healthineers, are up to 40 times more sensitive and up to 10 times faster than existing machines. They have the potential to scan 50% more patients per day than standard PET scanners and can reveal subtle, early signs of multiple types of cancer as well as neurological, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal conditions.
In addition to providing access to game-changing scanners, NPIP will build a bank of data from patients across the UK to improve diagnosis and aid researchers’ understanding of diseases, which can support the development of new medicines.
Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said:
“Cutting-edge scanners like these and the intelligence they provide can help UK patients live longer, healthier lives while easing the pressure on our NHS.
“Ultimately, these kinds of medical advancements will quite literally save lives – through earlier detection, faster diagnoses and more effective treatment in complex illnesses like cancer, dementia and heart disease.
“Ensuring our world-leading researchers have access to the most advanced technology is key to them unlocking the next medical breakthroughs, in turn improving the lives of people across the UK and beyond, while also growing our economy.”
Health Minister, Wes Streeting, said:
“St Thomas’ Hospital’s new state-of-the-art scanner is an example of the government funded innovative technology we want all patients to have access to for their NHS care.
“This scanner can diagnose conditions quicker and provide more personalised care for patients.
“Through our 10 Year Health Plan we will ensure that the NHS is made fit for the future, shifting the focus from analogue to digital, hospital to community and sickness to prevention, so that we can all receive care that is timely and effective.”
Professor Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, said:
“We are delighted to see this new scanner operational so that more patients, researchers and industry partners can benefit from this cutting-edge technology. As a new asset in our game-changing national platform, it will provide vital insights into disease biology, improving its detection, diagnosis and future treatment.
“By providing even more insightful data, NPIP enables new collaborations across the clinical and industrial research communities who, together with Medicines Discovery Catapult, reshape drug discovery and development for patient benefit.”
Ottoline Leyser, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, said:
“Our infrastructure fund invests in the facilities and equipment essential for researchers and innovators across the UK to make the discoveries that improve lives and livelihoods for everyone. The National PET Imaging Platform is a great example.
“A network of total-body PET scanners across the UK will radically improve the speed, comfort, and accuracy of scanning for patients, helping to reduce waiting times.
“Additionally, by involving patients in clinical research projects, and combining the data from across the UK, we will gain invaluable insight into many life-limiting illnesses, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and support the development of novel therapeutics.”
NPIP is the UK’s first-of-its-kind national total-body PET imaging platform for drug discovery research. It is funded by a £32m investment from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and managed through a partnership between Medicines Discovery Catapult, the Medical Research Council, and Innovate UK.
The London scanner is jointly managed by King’s College London and Imperial College London. NPIP’s second scanner is being installed in Scotland and will be operational by early 2025, jointly managed by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
A third scanner at the Royal Free Hospital is not funded by UKRI, but is part of the platform and contributes towards the connection of insights from research programmes.
Through its unique combination of infrastructure and intelligence, NPIP will improve the quality and speed of drug discovery, transform the quality of medical research across the UK, and provide a richer picture of human health, leading to better patient outcomes.
Read the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s press release >
