Rishi Sunak visits Oxford BioDynamics on Cancer Crusade
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has visited Oxford BioDynamics at ARC Oxford as he takes up a new role as an ambassador for a prostate cancer charity.
Last Thursday Mr Sunak met workers at Oxford BioDynamics laboratory at the Cowley campus, where they are working on a new blood test that can detect cancer with 94 percent accuracy.
Oxford BioDynamics’ portfolio of clinical smart tests based on EpiSwitch technology aims to help people face the most challenging health decisions and reduce unnecessary biopsies.
The former Conservative leader said he was honoured to “support the Prostate Cancer Research’s mission to revoluntionise diagnosis and treatment”. In government, Mr Sunak announced a £42million screening trial with the charity to find ways of detecting prostate cancer earlier.
Mr Sunak added, “Men tend to ignore pain hoping it’ll go away rather than going to see the GP, and that’s a part of the reason why prostate cancer is now the most diagnosed cancer in males in the UK.”
More than nine out of 10 men who receive a positive EpiSwitch PSE result will have prostate cancer confirmed, said Iain Ross, executive chairman of Oxford BioDynamics. This can “significantly cut” the number of “expensive and unnecessary MRI scans” and invasive prostate biopsies, he added.
Oxford BioDynamics is part of ARC Oxford’s growing life sciences cluster, including organisations like Yellowstone Biosciences, OMass Therapeutics and MiroBio, and is one of 35 science and tech organisations at the campus.
The campus has ambitious growth plans to support organisations scale their innovative products. Phase one, announced last year, will bring Ascent, a state-of-the-art, 105,000 sq. ft lab-ready development to the campus. Opening in early 2026, Ascent is projected to create around 500 jobs and contribute £38million to the economy each year.
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