Health-tech start-up Nye supports Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine trial

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Based in Oxford's entrepreneurship centre, the Foundry, Nye Health, led by Dr Alexander Finalyson, Chris Tan and Dr Imran Mahmud, has been supporting NHS teams throughout the pandemic, providing free access to remote consulting technology. It will now play a small role, keeping the University’s research team and the participants connected during the trial.

Earlier this month, Oxford researchers began human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine. But, as a result of social distancing measures, some elements of the trial will need to be managed remotely – which is where Nye comes in.  Nye Health’s remote consulting solution, the Nye Phone, allows researchers and clinicians to work from home and for the team to keep in close contact with study participants throughout the trial, regardless of location.  

The Nye Phone, allows researchers and clinicians to work from home and for the team to keep in close contact with study participants throughout the trial, regardless of location

Dr Alexander Finlayson, Nye CEO , says, ‘The work being carried out by Oxford University is incredibly inspiring. They are bringing their world-leading expertise to bear on the most critical of challenges. Nye is immensely excited to play a small role helping this clinical trial run smoothly.’

Dr Finlayson continues, ‘Given current circumstances, some experts may have to work from home...and keeping in close, secure contact with participants will be vital. The Nye Phone will make sure this communication is safe, simple and compliant. Our team has extensive experience working on clinical trials and medical research projects so, hopefully, we are well-placed to ensure our technology supports this essential work.’

The Nye Phone is NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSTP) compliant. It enables telephone and video consultations to be held through its browser-based platform. This means any individual can be securely contacted from any device, no matter where they are. The technology has been made freely available for the trial, to ensure participants, researchers and clinicians can remain closely connected. 

In March, the Nye Phone was made available to all NHS clinicians as primary and secondary care services were rapidly reconfigured to adhere to social distancing rules. Since then, hundreds of GP surgeries and secondary care services have begun to use the technology for phone and video appointments - covering 10 million patients with remote consultations. The technology has also been used across NHS Intensive Care Units (ICUs) to enable patients to keep in contact with loved ones.