Cancer Blood Tests Offered, Trials Planned Across UK

Several blood-based tests aimed at detecting or assessing risk for multiple cancers are moving toward broader use, but their purposes and evidence differ. In Nebraska, Mary Lanning Healthcare facilities are beginning to offer Galleri, a blood test that looks for signals from more than 50 cancers, alongside a separate hereditary-risk genetic test; Galleri is not yet fully FDA-approved, and neither test replaces routine screening. In England, a government-funded trial involving more than 20,000 patients will test whether blood tests can help identify abdominal cancers in people aged 45 and older who visit their GP with symptoms. A separate AI-based PinPoint test, which combines blood markers with age and sex to flag patients for urgent investigation, is being prepared for wider NHS and private-sector use after promising results in an NHS evaluation. Experts caution that Galleri has missed more than two-thirds of cancers in clinical-trial data and has not been shown to reduce cancer deaths or prevent advanced disease, despite an FDA advisory panel’s recommendation to approve it.