Diagnostics and personalised health company Randox to deliver £10m investment for major UK research project Our Future Health

Randox, the Northern Ireland-based diagnostics and personalised health company, has today been announced as one of four new industry partners in the Our Future Health (OFH) programme, which will be the UK’s largest ever health research programme.

Randox will deliver a £10m investment in the programme, which will discover and develop new methods of prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases and health conditions.

The company is one of four new partners who will deliver a total of £40m to OFH. They join 10 additional life sciences companies that were previously announced as funding partners in January 2022. As well as its £10m investment, Randox will contribute its world-leading expertise to the programme. Its network of 20 High Street clinics, including those in Holywood and Crumlin, will also be available if required to test volunteers from across the UK taking part in the OFH project. The project aims to monitor the long-term health of 5 million volunteers in the coming years, starting this autumn.

Andrew Roddam, Chief Executive of OFH, said: “We are delighted to be announcing a further four industry partners for OFH, who together will provide an additional £40m to further our objective to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treatments enabling people to live healthier lives for longer.  We welcome Randox as one of these partners, knowing their long-term commitment to diagnostics, and look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”

OFH has also joined with 16 health research charities, who have endorsed the pilot phase of the programme and are providing valuable support and experience.

Volunteers will be asked to complete an online health questionnaire, give their informed consent to link information from their healthcare records to OFH and donate a small blood sample.

Volunteers are also being asked to give their permission for OFH to contact them in the future to give them the opportunity to take part in follow-on research and to provide personal feedback about their health, should they wish to receive it.

Researchers from across the life sciences community, including academia, industry and the NHS, will be able to apply to study OFH resources as part of their crucial research to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative diagnostics and treatments.

Volunteers’ data will be de-identified and held in ‘trusted research environments’ that meet strict security criteria and an access board, which will include independent experts and members of the public, to ensure OFH resources are only used for health research in the public interest.

Randox Managing Director, Dr Peter FitzGerald said:

“Randox has been engaged from the very outset and is now excited to formally support this world-leading research project, both as a funding member and with our considerable expertise.

“With over 40 years of diagnostic experience, and extensive research capabilities, Randox knows that a personalised approach to the early detection and prevention of disease is not only critical to saving and extending life, but also to improving the quality of our lives. This project will further those critical goals. The ability for participants to receive feedback on their health from the project, and to engage with future research, also promotes Randox’s objective of greater individual ownership of health.

“Randox is committed to providing accessible and affordable testing to drive significant health improvements through the early detection and prevention of disease. ‘Our Future Health’ is perfectly aligned with that vision.”

Members of the public who are interested in taking part in Our Future Health later this year can register for news and updates  at www.ourfuturehealth.org.uk

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