In Insider on the 6th, offering a positive slant to news from a troubled part of the country due to a surge in infections there:
Scottish biotech company ILC Therapeutics said its synthetic interferon product is up to twenty times more effective in the lab in tackling the Covid-19 virus than other such drugs. The company, based in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire, hailed recent test results for its unique synthetic interferon called Alfacyte. They showed that Alfacyte is 15 to 20 times more effective at preventing the Covid-19 virus SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture than commercially available interferons such as Interferon alpha 2 and Interferon beta 1a. COVID-19 effectively tries to slow down the body’s innate interferon response to viral infection and Alfacyte is designed to help accelerate this response and prevent disease progression. The company said that independent research at the University of St Andrews led by Dr Catherine Adamson, a specialist in viral diseases, demonstrated the superior effectiveness of Alfacyte against SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory tests.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/new-drug-up-twenty-more-22800696
It’s been some time since The Tusker wrote on Scottish researchers. Here are some:
SNP Government-funded research helping with more than just cattle-farts:
August 25, 2019:
Scottish researchers work to help poor across globe
I’ve previously written reports of Scottish scientists and researchers working to improve the health and economic circumstances of the poor, across the globe. With particular regard to India and Bangladesh, Scots are involved in helping to remove arsenic from water…
From reducing cattle-fart to saving a dog’s leg, Scottish researchers lead the way
Glasgow University researchers have developed a ‘world-first’ in creating new bone growth and saving the leg of what looks like an English Setter. Who says we can be anti-English? The technique prevented amputation of the leg and is…
I’m losing track of the stories of Scottish researchers making a useful contribution well beyond our shores. Here are four recent examples: Scottish research first to identify ways of reducing cattle-fart with view to saving the planet Scottish Association for Marine…
The teams are based at the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, at Glasgow University and at Scotland’s Rural College. They have received £5.5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The…
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
In 1970, I shared a flat with a PhD student who devised a way of producing a chemical which was used to speed the process by which interferon was produced. In those days, the effects of interferon in treating cancers was only becoming known and enabling a speedier process was important. Scottish biochemistry innovation has a long history.
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Excellent John, it would be absolutely fantastic if Scotland came first in producing a vaccine, especially if it works better than others. Roll on the testing procedure.
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If such a vaccine were produced first in Scotland, I think the Scottish media would report it something like this:
IS SNP VACCINE SAFE?
Retired Ichthyologist, Poisson Le Pen-nington (108) said: “unless vaccines are properly tested there could be unforeseen problems.”
The BBC received a text from ‘Proud Scot’ saying, I remember the thalidomide scandal.’
A spokesperson for the respected Anti-Vax movement said:” Vaccines are a communist plot against human beings.”
So, questions are being asked about the safety of this vaccine
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Scotland has a very healthy Life Sciences sector. Some of it University based eg Univ of Dundee drug Discovery unit and some of it private companies. It attracts a lot of inward investment and creates a lot of high value jobs.
It has an annual growth rate of 7% and currently contributes £2.4 billion to the Scottish economy and is on target to take that to £8billion by 2025.
Now why are there no TV documentaries about that? Instead we get ones about the Scottish Clans fronted by N Oliver. Scotland’s past but not the here and now or its future.
https://www.sdi.co.uk/key-sectors/life-sciences-and-biotech#:~:text=Scotland's%20exciting%20life%20sciences%20sector,growth%20each%20year%20since%202010.
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Indeed Scotland is a hub for research in many areas of science. They often rely on EU funding though, which is very worrying re Brexit as that funding will not be available and no way UKEngGov will plug the gap. Only with independence can Scotland continue to grow and thrive, EngGov will do the opposite and curtail/ neuter any further progress etc.
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Indeed. Even before the EU referendum the Tory gov had cut the money they gave to the research councils who fund science and engineering research in our Universities which meant they were even more reliant on funding from the EU and taking part in joint projects within the EU.
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3/4 years ago, there was a presentation at the Glasgow Philosophical Society about pharmaceuticals development in Dundee. This is a world centre for such research and attracts major support from the large pharmaceutical companies, not just in the provision of funding but also in the supply of ‘seed’ chemicals of almost complete purity.
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