Blood test that can test for 50 cancers ‘may be offered on NHS next summer’

Liquid biopsy could diagnose 5,000 potential cases each year if rolled out to a million people, say health chiefs

The liquid biopsy detects tiny fragments of tumour DNA in the bloodstream (Getty Images)

A blood test with the potential to “transform cancer care forever” could be offered to one million people on the NHS from next summer, the head of the health service has said.

The Galleri blood test is capable of detecting 50 cancers early and is already being trialled in the NHS among an unprecedented 140,000 volunteers without symptoms, between the ages of 50 to 77, with results due next April.

At a conference of health service leaders in Manchester this week, a researcher involved in the trial expressed hope that the liquid biopsy could one day be used by people in their homes in the same way as Covid tests.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said that if provisional results of the “pioneering” trial – now in its second year – are successful, the blood test will be rolled out to a million people next summer, and is expected to diagnose thousands more cancer cases at an early stage.

“Lives are saved when cancers are caught early, and this test has the potential to transform cancer care forever – especially for the types that often don’t show symptoms until a later stage when they can be much harder to treat,” Ms Pritchard said.

Gillian Rosenberg, innovation lead on NHS England's national cancer programme, reportedly told the conference they were were keen to enable a swift introduction if early results were promising, and anticipated that close to 5,000 potential cases could be found each year

Developed by US firm Grail, the blood test detects tiny fragments of DNA belonging to tumours in the bloodstream, and is capable of predicting where in the body a cancer signal may have originated, with a recent trial locating the site of a patient’s cancer in 85 per cent of cases.

GPs are currently searching “for a needle in a haystack”, with most doctors dealing with around eight cases each year, according to Dr Thomas Round, of King’s College London’s cancer prevention trials unit.

But describing the “enormous” potential to bolster early diagnoses, Dr Round was quoted as saying: “The sky is the limit. That’s why I’m so excited to be involved in the process of researching this area.”

“Most GPs are completely overworked at the moment and actually it might help us,” he added.

“The key thing for us, especially in the symptomatic population, is how do we avoid that ‘ping pong’ patient where there is a gut feeling that something is not quite right.”

Studies suggest that about 40 per cent of people who test positive will be found to have cancer, and Dr Rosenberg said health chiefs were “confident” the blood test would “not add an undue burden onto the currently stretched” pathways to hospital care.

If it is rolled out as anticipated, the NHS could become the world’s first healthcare system to offer a universal cancer check.

This article was amended on June 22 2023. The headline originally referred to the test as being available 'at home', but it is not a home test in its current form.