Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

FLock.io has been spotlighted by the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s MINDS programme for two NHS trusts using its privacy-preserving AI to tackle major diseases. Both trusts use its federated learning platform to train clinical models while maintaining 100% data sovereignty. Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCLH are using FLock.io for two use cases: eye disease detection and diabetes management. The method enables collaboration without sharing sensitive patient data. This solves the problem regulated industries like healthcare face where data privacy regulations and security concerns restrict the use of AI. The spotlight places FLock.io’s work within the wider MINDS programme, alongside a…

Drone deliveries are set to become a core part of pathology logistics across south west London after a pilot demonstrated faster transport of urgent NHS samples between primary care and hospital laboratories. South West London Pathology (SWLP) said it plans to expand its drone delivery network to additional hospitals and GP sites after incorporating the technology into its wider modernisation programme. Since February 2026, drones have been transporting pathology samples from Nelson Health Centre in Raynes Park to the SWLP laboratory at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, completing the journey in just over three minutes compared with around 20 minutes…

New research from the University of Cincinnati demonstrates how specially engineered bacteria taken orally can operate as a delivery system for antiviral therapies and vaccines. The research, led by Nalinikanth Kotagiri, PhD, was recently published in the journal Gut Microbes. Study background Kotagiri’s lab focuses on engineering probiotic bacteria to accomplish a wide variety of functions, from breaking down cancer’s defenses to imaging and diagnosing lung infections. A few years ago, the team asked whether the same chassis, using the bacterium E.coli Nissle 1917, could ferry antiviral therapeutic agents or vaccine antigens directly to the gut, a major portal of…

All teenagers should be offered a free vaccine against meningitis B (MenB) at around the age of 15, UK experts are now recommending – a change to previous advice. It follows concerns over the UK’s largest and fastest growing outbreak that happened in Kent earlier this year.As a precaution, a one-off vaccination campaign is already being launched around the UK this summer for young people heading off to university for the first time, among some others.Advisers are asking the government to consider introducing MenB jabs routinely for secondary school-aged people to better protect them against a disease that can be…

For almost 60 years, measuring cholesterol levels in the blood has been the best way to identify individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease. In a new study, led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and Harvard University in the USA, researchers have shown comprehensively that a combination of two lipoprotein markers, measured in a simple blood test, can give more accurate information about individual risk of heart disease than the current blood cholesterol test, potentially saving lives. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally. Most cases could be…

Herefordshire is the place in the UK for “people who want to spiritually develop themselves”, a monk says. Venerable Dhammaloka, a senior Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, says he can “feel” the county has the right “state of balance”. For a person “to be happy”, he said: “They need the right environment and this environment, the nature, the air, everything in Hereford allows that.”It comes after Dhammaloka, who had never visited Herefordshire before, selected the West Midlands region as the place for his mentee, Ishara De Silva, to set up her wellness centre.Plantation Villa was originally founded in Sri Lanka…

Until now, the main goal for people with prediabetes was to lose weight. However, a major study from Tübingen reveals that individuals who restore their blood sugar to a healthy level through lifestyle changes — without losing weight, and even in some cases gaining weight — can still lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 71 percent. The research was conducted by experts from the University Hospital of Tübingen, Helmholtz Munich, and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD). Prediabetes affects millions of people across the globe. About one in ten adults is estimated to have the condition,…

Judi Health is continuing on its rebranding journey and announced on Wednesday that its pharmacy benefit management arm will now operate as Judi Rx. Previously known as Capital Rx, Judi’s PBM has operated on a transparent model for nearly a decade. Demand for new and alternative options in this market has grown as healthcare costs escalate, and Judi’s combined PBM and pharmacy benefit administrator clientele has grown to include more than 50 million lives across Medicare, Medicaid and commercial. In a June study backed by Judi, Employee Benefit News found that most organizations switching to a transparent PBM jumped ship…

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered a new way that brown fat, a type of fat that burns energy, can boost the body’s metabolism. This process allows cells to consume more fuel and generate heat, improving overall metabolic health. Conducted in mice, the research points to new possibilities for using brown fat to address metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance and obesity. The findings were published Sept. 17 in Nature. Brown fat is unique because it turns energy (calories) from food into heat. Unlike white fat, which stores energy, or muscle, which uses it…

UPDATED: July 15 at 1 p.m. ET Medicaid remains a thorn in Elevance Health’s side financially, and investors are grilling the company’s top brass about what back half of 2026 holds for this market. Elevance held its Q2 earnings call on Wednesday morning, where CEO Gail Boudreaux said that the insurer views 2026 as a “trough year” for its Medicaid business, “with improvement over time supported by better rate alignment and the maturation of our care management actions.” The company continues to evaluate the strategic positioning of its Medicaid portfolio, and recently reached an agreement with officials in the District…