London Pharmacies Lead Charge in NHS Heart Health Revolution

LONDON, UK – January 14, 2026 – A quiet revolution in public health is gaining momentum across North East London as an additional 70 community pharmacies are set to begin offering on-the-spot cardiovascular health screenings. The expansion, announced today by Avricore Health Inc., builds on a highly successful NHS-linked pilot program and signals a major acceleration in the strategy to shift preventative healthcare from crowded hospitals into accessible, local settings.

This initiative deploys the HealthTab™ point-of-care testing (POCT) platform, which provides lab-accurate results for key health indicators, including cholesterol and blood glucose, from a simple finger-prick sample in minutes. The move reflects growing clinical demand and strong engagement from pharmacists, reinforcing a systemic shift that is turning the corner drugstore into a new frontline for tackling chronic disease.

A New Era for Community-Based Care

The expansion is a direct manifestation of the NHS's long-term vision to enhance preventative care and leverage the unique accessibility of its 11,000 community pharmacies. This strategy, outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan, aims to prevent hundreds of thousands of strokes and heart attacks by making early detection and health monitoring more convenient for the public. Initiatives like the national NHS Community Pharmacy Blood Pressure Check Service, which has already conducted hundreds of thousands of checks and identified over 25,000 people with undiagnosed high blood pressure, have paved the way for more comprehensive services.

Pharmacist-led interventions for cardiovascular disease (CVD) have been identified as offering the highest return on investment among various prevention strategies, yielding an estimated £7.52 for every £1 invested over five years. This economic and clinical efficiency is driving significant government support, including the new Pharmacy First service, which empowers pharmacists to treat common conditions and is projected to free up millions of GP appointments annually. The expansion in North East London is a prime example of this policy in action, embedding advanced diagnostic capabilities directly into the heart of communities, many of which are in the UK's most deprived areas.

Technology, Trust, and Turnkey Solutions

At the core of the London expansion is Avricore Health’s HealthTab™, a comprehensive platform designed to overcome the complexities of deploying reliable testing outside of a traditional laboratory. The system is a turnkey solution, integrating best-in-class diagnostic instruments with a secure, cloud-based software that unifies patient results, device data, and quality control information.

“This programme is helping to set a new standard for how point-of-care testing can be delivered effectively and responsibly through community pharmacies, while meeting the clinical and governance expectations of the NHS,” said Rodger Seccombe, CEO of Avricore Health. This integrated approach ensures consistency and reliability across dozens of sites, a critical factor for a national health service.

To ensure its results are trustworthy, the platform's quality is managed in partnership with CEQAL Inc., a world-leading reference method laboratory affiliated with the CDC's Cholesterol Reference Method Laboratory Network. This collaboration provides a rigorous quality management program, including external assessments and centralized monitoring, ensuring the point-of-care tests meet performance standards comparable to major hospital labs. Furthermore, a key strategic advantage is HealthTab's integration with Patients Know Best (PKB), the UK's leading personal health record provider. This allows test results to be seamlessly and securely shared with patients via the NHS App, empowering them with direct access to their health data and facilitating better-informed consultations with their healthcare providers.

Proven Impact on Community Health

The decision to rapidly scale the program follows a highly successful pilot delivered in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust. The initial phase, which focused on cholesterol screening and management, produced compelling results. According to a clinical lead for the program, the early findings were striking, with approximately one in five people tested being identified as having a raised cardiovascular risk. Many of these individuals, the source noted, would not have otherwise accessed traditional healthcare channels for such a check-up.

“The early results strongly suggest that a nationally commissioned cholesterol POCT service in community pharmacies is both feasible and impactful,” a senior clinical leader involved in the project stated, emphasizing its ability to complement existing NHS prevention programs. The initiative has been praised for its role in tackling health inequalities, as it brings vital services to the doorstep of diverse and often underserved populations.

A chief pharmacist and director for NHS North East London celebrated the expansion, highlighting that the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease is a top priority for the region. The innovative model, delivered by local pharmacy teams, is seen as a powerful tool for improving health outcomes in a region that, despite facing significant deprivation, has already shown strong performance in CVD management.

A Blueprint for the Future of Pharmacy

While Avricore Health is demonstrating significant traction, it operates in a dynamic and competitive health-tech landscape. Other platforms, such as PocDoc, have also established a strong presence in the UK, partnering with major pharmacy chains to offer similar cardiovascular screening services. This growing competition underscores the market's validation of the community pharmacy as a vital hub for diagnostics.

For Avricore, a Vancouver-based company with a relatively small market capitalization, the successful and scalable deployment within the complex NHS ecosystem represents a significant strategic victory. The company has reported strong revenue growth over the past two years, with recent quarters showing a move toward profitability, driven largely by the expansion of its HealthTab™ network. While analyst sentiment remains mixed, reflecting the challenges faced by smaller firms in the health-tech sector, the on-the-ground success in London provides a powerful proof of concept for investors.

The expansion across North East London, which has already drawn national media attention, serves as more than just a corporate milestone. It is a working blueprint for the future of primary care in the UK. As pharmacists move towards gaining prescribing authority for chronic conditions, having reliable, integrated diagnostic data at their fingertips will be essential. This model of tech-enabled, community-based preventative care could soon become the standard, transforming the local pharmacy from a place of prescription collection into a cornerstone of national health and wellness.