Awards fever continues as AWMGS receives MediWales Innovation Award

Still revelling in the celebrations following two of our respected colleagues Megan Fealey and Joseph Halstead win at the Advancing Healthcare Awards 2021, we are immensely grateful and excited to be honoured last night at the MediWales 2021 Awards in partnership with Life Sciences Hub Wales.

The prestigious awards which recognises ‘outstanding achievement in the life science sector in Wales’, took place during an 'in person' event at the Mercure Holland Hotel in Cardiff. 

The awards ceremony was comprised across two themes; NHS and Industry and spanned 10 different categories which included innovation, export, covid-19 response, digital Impact and start-up.  

Following a successful round of shortlisting, AWMGS in partnership with Velindre Cancer Centre were declared the winners in the NHS Awards, namely 'Scaling Up Innovation and Transformation' for our national DPYD screening service.

Our Head of Laboratories, Sian Morgan (pictured) was among the team at the event to accept the award and spoke highly of everyone involved in the implementation of the service during the acceptance speech, highlighting the strength of the effective partnerships we are so fortunate to have locally here in Wales which has made DPYD and our other flagship services possible.

The DPYD gene screening service (piloted at VCC and launched in autumn 2020 for patients across Wales), has already achieved remarkable preventable adverse drug reactions (ADR) for patients prescribed with chemotherapy drugs frequently used in the treatment of several types of cancer. Changes to the DPYD gene (seen in up to 6-7% population) can lead to dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) enzyme deficiency, and for these individuals can lead to the accumulation of cytotoxic chemotherapy compounds in the body with the risk of potentially life-threatening adverse reactions.

'To date a total of 225 patients in Wales have had their chemotherapy treatment stratified, therefore reducing their risk of an ADR, cost efficiency measured in reduced hospitalisation admissions. The team are now scoping the need for a largescale NHS test that will meet the increasing demands at which targeted therapies are being licensed and approved', (source, Velindre Cancer Centre).

A massive thank you to all of our staff and our colleagues who has supported us along this journey.

To learn more about more about our DPYD service and the role of pharmacogenetics in developing new and emerging treatment therapies, please click here.