Digital Health has published the full Summer Schools 2026 programme, featuring some of the NHS’s most influential digital leaders.
Google DeepMind is worried about what happens when millions of agents start to interact
Google DeepMind is funding research into the potential dangers of situations where millions of different AI agents interact with each other online.
According to Rohin Shah, who directs the company’s AGI safety and alignment research, the mass-market arrival of agents that can carry out tasks without human oversight and follow instructions given to them by other agents creates a whole new class of risk.
In an effort to address this, Google DeepMind—which made agent-based tools a centerpiece of Google I/O last month—has teamed up with several other organizations to announce a $10 million funding pot for researchers to study the behavior of multi-agent systems and come up with ways to prevent unsafe scenarios. Joining Google DeepMind are Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic foundation set up by Eric and Wendy Schmidt; ARIA, the UK government’s moonshot agency; the Cooperative AI foundation, a UK-based nonprofit research outfit; and Google’s charitable arm, Google.org.
I asked Shah and James Fox, who leads the Science of Trustworthy AI program at Schmidt Sciences, what they hope to achieve with that $10 million. It’s no small sum, but it’s dwarfed by the budgets commanded by Google DeepMind’s own research teams.
The aim is to kick-start research outside tech companies, says Shah: “The strength of academia is that it can look really quite far into the future and do the kind of work that isn’t top of mind at industry labs.”
“The main issue is that there just isn’t really a field of research for multi-agent safety yet,” he adds. “And we would like there to be.”
The concern is that as more and more AI agents get deployed and begin working together, we could hit a tipping point where imagined scenarios become real. “We see this with humanity, too,” says Shah. “Our institutions can accomplish things that no individual human can.”
Shah thinks that we have a few more months to go before agents are deployed throughout the economy in numbers that make potential risks a real concern. He wants to get ahead of that moment.
Risky business
What risks are we talking about, exactly? The possibilities that Shah and Fox have in mind mostly boil down to supercharged versions of bad things that happen on the internet already: scams, prompt injections (where an AI agent is fed malicious instructions, turning it into a self-guiding piece of malware), other forms of cyberattack. We look at what humans do now and ask what the agent version of that would be, says Shah.
“We’ve got this digital commons that is integral to how society works, and you really want to ensure that this doesn’t descend into just absolute anarchy,” says Fox.
(I asked Shah if they were considering any worst-case scenarios more on the doomer end of the spectrum, such as widespread economic collapse. “Certainly not if we’re talking by the end of the year,” he said. That’s only six months away! He laughed. “Okay, a while after that.”)
Shah and Fox both think that the only way to understand what might happen when large numbers of multi-agent systems interact with each other is to run realistic simulations. They want researchers to drop AI agents into sandboxes and study what they do.
You can’t predict what’s going to happen by studying single agents, or even small groups of agents, in isolation. You can’t assume that AI agents underpinned by LLMs will always act rationally, says Fox. And the complexity comes from having huge numbers of interactions at once.
Some researchers, including a team at Google DeepMind, have argued that artificial general intelligence (if possible at all) could come not from a single super-smart model but from a kind of agent hive mind, where the capabilities of the whole add up to more than the sum of its parts.
Lack of trust
Google DeepMind is not the only top AI firm warning about the risks of the technology it is building. A couple of weeks ago, Anthropic published guidelines for deploying AI agents based on an approach to cybersecurity known as zero trust, which starts with the assumption that a computer system is vulnerable, an agent is an attacker, and a breach will happen.
Refael Angel, cofounder and CTO of Akeyless, a cybersecurity firm based in Tel Aviv, agrees that understanding the new risks introduced by agent-based systems is crucial.
Every approach to security in the past has assumed that the machine in question was software written by a human, doing fixed things on fixed paths, says Angel: “An agent breaks all of those assumptions. It reasons, it improvises, and it can be hijacked by a single sentence buried in a document it was asked to read.”
Angel welcomes this new funding. “No single lab should author the safety standards everyone else has to trust,” he says. But he cautions that safety researchers can overlook boring problems that are already here in favor of more exotic hypothetical ones.
And yet, Fox notes, risks that were hypothetical a few years ago are now very real: “The future’s come more quickly than perhaps expected.”
Govt pledges £20m to roll out AI X-ray tools across NHS by 2029
The government has announced £20 million of funding to expand AI chest X-ray tools to every NHS trust in England by 2029.
Inclusivity in Insomnia: Adolescents’ Perspectives on the Sleep Solved App: Qualitative Interview Study
Background: Adolescent sleep duration can substantially impact mood, behavior, and academic attainment. While hundreds of sleep-related apps are available to download, none have been cocreated with adolescents from underserved populations in the United Kingdom. Objective: This study aimed to explore adolescents’ views, expectations, and experiences with a novel app to improve sleep, called Sleep Solved, to understand which features were perceived as positive and helpful, and to identify ways to further enhance its usefulness. Sleep Solved is part of a larger stepped behavior change study and was cocreated with adolescents from underserved groups to make the app accessible and engaging for this population. Methods: A total of 63 participants aged 16‐18 years from across the United Kingdom completed semistructured interviews after trying the app. Interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke, with a particular focus on the views of individuals from underserved ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Results: Participants perceived Sleep Solved as a useful tool that provides helpful advice regarding changeable behaviors to improve sleep hygiene. Cocreated features of the app, such as the Sleep Stars gamified rewards system and the easy-read, science-based “sleep hacks,” were viewed positively by participants, who reported that they had a beneficial impact on their sleep and sleep schedule. Praise was given for the app’s ease of use and how the science of sleep was explained at an appropriate level, without being overwhelming. Compared to sleep advice on social media platforms, Sleep Solved was considered more reliable and trustworthy. Participants described better sleep hygiene, such as a regular sleep routine and a longer sleep duration, and increased feelings of improved mood and energy. Conclusions: This study found that a cocreated sleep app, designed with input from adolescents in underserved UK populations, was perceived as accessible, reliable, and effective in supporting positive sleep behavior change. Although sleep duration was not objectively tested, participants, particularly those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and diverse ethnicities, reported improved sleep routines and mood, highlighting the potential of co-designed digital tools to engage and benefit adolescent users.
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GSK to Acquire Nuvalent for $10.6B, Boosting Cancer Pipeline with Precision NSCLC Treatments
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to acquire Nuvalent for $10.6 billion, the companies said, in a deal designed to strengthen the buyer’s cancer pipeline with Nuvalent’s precision oncology treatments—including three non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) therapies, of which two are under FDA review with decisions expected later this year.
Boston-based Nuvalent’s pipeline is headed by the ROS1 inhibitor zidesamtinib (NVL-520) and the ALK inhibitor eladalkib (NVL-655), which according to the company represent potential best-in-class, next-generation, highly selective treatments for NSCLC. Both are brain penetrant. The FDA has set target decision dates of September 18 for zidesamtinib and November 27 for neladalkib, both of which have been granted the agency’s Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug designations.
Zidesamtinib is designed to treat NSCLC tumors driven by ROS1 that have developed resistance to currently available ROS1 inhibitors, including tumors with the prevalent G2032R “solvent front” resistance mutation. Zidesamtinib is selective in order to minimize CNS adverse events related to off-target inhibition of the tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) family, and potentially drive durable responses for patients with ROS1-mutant variants, Nuvalent says.
Eladalkib was created to address treating tumors driven by ALK that have developed resistance to first-, second-, and third-generation ALK inhibitors, including tumors with both single or compound treatment-emergent ALK mutations such as those involving the G1202R “solvent front” mutation. Eladalkib is also designed to avoiding TRK family inhibition and to treat brain metastases.
The third NSCLC asset of Nuvalent, NVL-330, is a HER2 inhibitor now under study in Phase I trials for HER2-altered NSCLC. In addition, Nuvalent’s pipeline includes an unspecified number of preclinical programs focused on “addressing the limitations of existing therapies for clinically proven kinase targets in oncology,” the company states on its website.
“Today’s acquisition is a multi-product deal, consistent with our approach to acquire assets that have clinically proven targets and meaningfully address an efficacy and/or tolerability gap,” GSK CEO Luke Miels said in a statement. “The two lead products are potential best-in-class assets that could launch this year if approved by the FDA and offer significant new treatment options to patients with two forms of non-small cell lung cancer.”
GSK investors were less enthusiastic as its shares on the London Stock Exchange on Monday dipped 0.5% to 1,903.50 pence. However, Nuvalent shares jumped 39% on Nasdaq to $123.25.
The $10.6 billion Nuvalent acquisition is the third largest merger-and-acquisition (M&A) deal announced this year, behind the €10.7 billion ($12.355 billion) cash buyout offer for Italian-based Recordati being pursued by CVC Capital Partners and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, which aim to take the company private; and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ planned $11.75 billion purchase of Organon, the women’s health drug developer spun out of Merck & Co., in a deal expected to close in early 2027.
Immediate sales opportunities
The Nuvalent candidates, GSK added, present immediate new sales growth opportunities, improving profit contributions from 2027, and a platform in lung cancer for rapid expansion with GSK’s Ris-Rez, a B7-H3 targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) now in Phase III clinical development.
In a presentation to investors after announcing a series of business updates on May 27, Nuvalent projected an ROS1+ NSCLC treatment could generate ~$1.4 billion to $2.1 billion in peak year sales, with about 40% of those sales (from ~$570 million to $855M million) expected to come from the U.S.—multiples above the ~$150 million in peak year sales attained in 2019 by Xalkori® (crizotinib), marketed by Pfizer and Merck KGaA.
An ALK+ NSCLC treatment would potentially be even more lucrative, Nuvalent said last month, with projected worldwide peak year sales ranging from ~$3.4 billion to $5 billion, of which the U.S. would account for 40% of sales, or between ~$1.35 billion and $2 billion—well above the $519 million in peak sales attained in 2023 by Alecensa® (alectinib), marketed by Genentech, a member of the Roche Group and created by Roche-owned Chugai Pharmaceutical.
“Since our founding, we have leveraged our deep expertise in chemistry and structure-based drug design to develop a portfolio of novel, potentially best-in-class kinase inhibitors. Our close collaboration with leading physician-scientists and patient advocates has driven remarkable enrolment, accelerating development and building confidence in the clinical profile of these drugs,” Nuvalent CEO James Porter, PhD, stated. “We’re excited that GSK has recognized the significant value these programs can offer patients and shares our vision for practice-changing innovation.”
Positive pivotal data
In announcing the acquisition, GSK cited positive pivotal data Nuvalent presented at the IASLC 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer and the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. Data at both conferences showed potential best-in-class profiles for zidesamtinib and neladalkib, with both treatments designed to deliver longer effective treatment with better quality of life than current therapies, through high target-selectivity, durable treatment response, improved tolerability, enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration for tumor spread, and broader coverage of ALK and ROS1 mutations.
ROS1- and ALK-altered NSCLC primarily affect non-smoking adults aged 40-50, GSK and Nuvalent said—a patient population the companies described as uniquely defined and engaged.
GSK said it will commence a tender offer to acquire all of Nuvalent’s outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock at a purchase price of $124 per share in cash within 10 business days. The expected purchase price represents a 40% premium to the last closing price and a 26% premium to the 30 calendar day volume-weighted average price.
Net of cash acquired, GSK estimated its aggregate investment in Nuvalent to be $9.4 billion.
GSK said the acquisition will not change its 2026 full-year guidance range of 7-9% core operating profit and core EPS growth. The acquisition is expected to contribute to revenue growth from 2027, be incremental to GSK’s existing ambition for sales of >£40 billion (>$53.56 billion) by 2031, and strengthen the company’s core operating profit through the two-year period of loss of exclusivity for its aging blockbuster dolutegravir (2028-2030).
Dolutegravir is an HIV-1 integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) marketed as the monotherapy Tivicay® by Viiv Healthcare, in which GSK holds a 78.3% majority stake (and Shionogi, the remaining 21.7% after Pfizer cashed out its 11.7% stake, receiving $1.88 billion). Dolutegravir is also included in Viiv’s fixed-dose HIV combination therapies Dovato (dolutegravir and lamivudine) and Juluca (dolutegravir and rilpivirine).
Adding to core profit, EPS
GSK said it expected to add to its core operating profit in 2027 and core earnings per share (EPS) in 2029 by acquiring Nuvalent, even after accounting for cost-cutting synergies and “reprioritization,” which it defines as the shifting of personnel, capital, and other resources away from lower-yield, early-stage research or legacy programs toward higher-value clinical assets and corporate activities. Nuvalent reported 228 full-time employees, of which 144 are engaged in R&D, in its Form 10-K annual report for 2025, filed February 26.
Should the transaction close in Q3 2026 as expected, GSK said it expects low single-digit percentage dilution to core EPS this year through 2028.
The company said it will fund the Nuvalent acquisition primarily from new and existing debt facilities plus cash, with no impact expected to its credit rating. GSK ended Q1 with £3.442 billion ($4.608 billion) in cash and cash equivalents, up 1.3% from £3.397 billion ($4.548 billion) at the end of 2025.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender of a majority of Nuvalent’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock in the tender offer and the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in the U.S. Soon after the closing of the tender offer, GSK expects to acquire any remaining shares of Nuvalent through a second-step merger under Delaware law at the same price per share.
GSK said it will account for the transaction as a business combination and assume Nuvalent’s existing revenue-sharing arrangements of low-single-digit royalties payable to Royalty Pharma and Deerfield. Royalty Pharma in December acquired for up to $315 million a pre-existing royalty interest in zidesamtinib and neladalkib from an undisclosed third party. Deerfield is Nuvalent’s largest shareholder.
“GSK’s proven track record, infrastructure, and expertise will support the successful commercialization of zidesamtinib and neladalkib, as well as accelerate advancement of our broader discovery pipeline,” Porter added.
The post GSK to Acquire Nuvalent for $10.6B, Boosting Cancer Pipeline with Precision NSCLC Treatments appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Pharmacy2U launches menopause support hub
UK online pharmacy Pharmacy2U has launched a dedicated women’s health hub, backed by menopause retail accreditation, the MTick.
Case Report: Reintroduction of winged infusion sets to needle syringe programs – advancing equity in harm reduction
BackgroundIn January 2023, following a 20-year ban, the New South Wales (NSW) Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Guidelines permitted NSPs to provide winged infusion sets (‘butterflies’) and larger-volume syringes (‘barrels’) commonly used for injecting methadone liquid intravenously.ApproachThe Kirketon Road Centre (KRC) integrated the distribution of ‘butterflies and barrels’ (referred to as ‘butterfly packs’) into its service delivery in April 2023 and developed resources in collaboration with the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) and the NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA). This case report presents an audit of service delivery and self-reported client outcomes following the introduction of ‘butterfly packs’.OutcomesSince April 2023, KRC has been consistently supplying ‘barrels’ and ‘butterflies’ to clients who inject methadone. The proportion of NSP visits by clients who reported methadone as the last drug injected increased significantly after the program’s introduction (from 2.2 to 4.0 methadone-related attendances per month), and so did the amount of corresponding injecting equipment and verbal education sessions. Among 18 survey respondents, the majority reported improved health or safety since accessing butterfly packs (89%).ConclusionEquipment for intravenous methadone administration can be safely and efficiently distributed by NSP programs. Access to harm reduction services should be based on vulnerability and need, with services tailored accordingly. The policy reversal allowing ‘butterflies and barrels’ and service innovations such as KRC’s program have addressed a longstanding gap, advancing equity in harm reduction for people who inject methadone in NSW.
STAT+: As the U.S. looks on, European countries feel growing pressure on drug prices
LONDON — In Europe, two divergent paths are emerging as countries grapple with what to do about drug prices, affecting pharma companies and patients across the continent — and testing the influence of the U.S.
In the U.K., after a pressure campaign from both pharma companies and the Trump administration, the government has adopted more industry-friendly policies while also simply promising to spend more on medicines.
Germany, another of the continent’s biggest markets, is headed in the opposite direction. Facing growing deficits in its health budget, the government has proposed moves that would cut spending and increase the fees the industry has to pay.
MFT to launch data platform to support research and patient care
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is launching a data platform to support research and improve care for patients.
T-Cell Synapse Formation Is Restrained by PTPN22–PSTPIP1 Signaling
T cells don’t simply switch on—they reshape themselves. When these immune sentinels recognize a target, they rapidly reorganize their internal scaffolding to build an immunological synapse, a nanoscale interface that determines how strongly they respond. But that architectural overhaul needs brakes. Without them, T cells risk becoming hypersensitive, reacting to weak cues, and drifting toward autoimmunity. Now, new work reveals that one of those brakes—PTPN22 (proline-serine-threonine phosphatase–interacting protein 1)—acts not only on signaling molecules but also on the cytoskeletal machinery that sculpts the synapse itself.
In a study published in Science Signaling, lead author Megan Joseph, PhD, of University College London and colleagues uncover how PTPN22 interacts with the cytoskeletal adaptor protein PSTPIP1 to restrain actin remodeling at the T‑cell synapse. Their paper, “PTPN22 regulates T-cell synapse formation through PSTPIP1-dependent actin remodeling,” shows that this phosphatase plays a previously unappreciated role at the plasma membrane, shaping how T cells respond to antigens of varying affinity. As the authors wrote, “These findings uncover a PTPN22–PSTPIP1 signaling axis that is critical for regulating cytoskeletal remodeling and receptor organization, providing insights into T-cell hyperactivation that may be relevant to autoimmune disease.”
PTPN22 is already well known as a negative regulator of early T‑cell activation. Variants in the gene, including the autoimmune‑associated R620W allele, have been linked to diseases ranging from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis. Using super‑resolution DNA‑PAINT imaging, Joseph et al. visualized how T cells reorganize their actin networks as they engage activating ligands. In wild‑type Jurkat cells, PTPN22 helped maintain orderly actin dynamics. In its absence, however, PSTPIP1 accumulated at T cell receptors (TCRs), disrupting Arp2/3‑dependent actin polymerization and generating dense central F‑actin foci, as well as enhanced Ca2+ signaling, especially under low-affinity stimulation of the TCR, according to the paper.
This hyper‑remodeling had functional consequences. PTPN22‑deficient cells became unusually sensitive to low‑affinity antigens, responding more vigorously than their wild‑type counterparts. “Autoimmunity is inherently linked to immune tolerance mechanisms normally associated with low-affinity TCR responses to self, which, when breeched lead to inappropriate immune reactions. To better understand how PTPN22 contributes to these processes, we used WT and PTPN22 KO TCR−/− Jurkat cells engineered to express a transgenic TCR with high affinity for the pTax peptide and low affinity for the pHuD peptide,” the authors wrote.
Joseph and colleagues suggest that understanding this axis could inform both autoimmune research and efforts to modulate T‑cell activation in cancer immunotherapy. By mapping how PTPN22 and PSTPIP1 coordinate actin remodeling, the study provides a mechanistic foothold for exploring how synapse architecture shapes immune outcomes.
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