The University of Liverpool has been honoured with the Best Public Sector Innovation award at the 2026 Prix Galien UK Awards, in recognition of its trio of internationally significant responses to the COVID-19 pandemic - the SMART (Systematic Meaningful Asymptomatic Repeated Testing) community testing programme, the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) clinical characterisation study and the AGILE therapeutics trial platform.
The SMART programme alone saw case detection increase by a fifth, known cases fall by a fifth and COVID-19 hospitalisations fall by a quarter - - evidence that directly shaped the UK's COVID-19 Community Testing programme and influenced policies internationally.
The award was presented at a ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London on Thursday 11 June. The Prix Galien, established in 1970 and widely regarded as one of the most prestigious accolades in life sciences, recognises outstanding 'Made in the UK' innovations that improve human health.
Professor Iain Buchan, who led the SMART 'mass testing' research, said: "This award reflects the remarkable camaraderie of Liverpool's residents and researchers that made such an important contribution to the world's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are very few communities I can think of who would come out in the November rain to volunteer to get tested despite mis- and dis-information - a quarter of a city did this in November 2020, providing vital scientific evidence.
"This is not a chance happening. Liverpool has driven public health innovation consistently since the mid-1800s and there is a covenant of trust between its people and public health researchers.
"The grit and grace of Liverpool's people humbles and inspires me."
A city that stepped forward
In November 2020, Liverpool delivered the world's first voluntary COVID-19 mass testing pilot using lateral flow devices. Facing the UK's highest incidence of COVID-19 hospitalisation alongside high levels of poverty and the damaging effects of lockdown, the city offered to pilot mass asymptomatic testing at a time when little was known about asymptomatic transmission and rapid testing had never been proven at population scale.
A quarter of the city's population volunteered for supervised self-testing within a month, and half the population eventually took part. Working with Liverpool City Council, the NHS and 2,000 troops from the British Army, the Liverpool-led partnership mobilised in just five days and delivered policy-shaping evidence within five weeks.
The pilot built on data and digital infrastructure created at unprecedented speed: the Combined Intelligence for Population Health Action (CIPHA) system, covering GP, hospital and COVID-19 testing data for a population of 2.7 million, was deployed in just 90 days in the summer of 2020 - work that would normally take years. That platform has since been sustained through the University's Civic Health Innovation Labs and the Data into Action programme for Cheshire and Merseyside.
From hospital wards to new treatments
The award also recognises two further Liverpool-led contributions to the global pandemic response.
ISARIC, co-led by Professor Calum Semple, Professor of Child Health and Outbreak Medicine at the University, created the world's largest prospective study of patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Activated on 17 January 2020 - before the UK recorded its first case - the study gathered data from more than 300,000 patients, submitted its first clinical report to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) by 10 March 2020, and went on to inform more than 150 SAGE and New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) meetings, World Health Organisation (WHO) clinical guidance and vaccine development. Its 4C Mortality Score became a standard tool for risk stratification in hospitals worldwide.
Speaking on the award, Professor Semple said: "Tonight's recognition of the resilient foresight in the service of public health demonstrated by the UK arm of ISARIC is well deserved. The sustained commitment and collaboration of our UK wide team in preparing for the next pandemic meant the UK Clinical Research Response was world leading and saved many lives."
AGILE, led by the University's Director of the Centre for Experimental Therapeutics (TherEx), Professor Saye Khoo, pioneered a new model of early-phase clinical trials for experimental COVID-19 antivirals, combining Phases 1 and 2 with sophisticated mathematical modelling to accelerate decision-making with fewer participants.
AGILE delivered first into-human and first dose-optimisation studies for treatments including molnupiravir, and its data supported the licensing of remdesivir, molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir. The associated Liverpool COVID-19 Drug Interactions tool has become the global benchmark, returning around eight million searches each year across 220 countries.
Professor Khoo said: "Faced with an unprecedented challenge, Liverpool researchers responded with groundbreaking innovation to see and do things differently, a willingness to work unbelievably hard (often at personal cost) and above all, the guiding belief that science would save the day."
Together, the three programmes demonstrate how long-term investment in public health partnerships, civic trust and data infrastructure enabled Liverpool to act at a pace and scale not seen before.
Pictured l-r: Professor Calum Semple, Professor Iain Buchan, Professor Marta Garcia-Finana, Professor Saye Khoo, Gary Leeming, Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, Professor Lauren Walker, and Professor Richard FitzGerald.
