Ground-breaking cancer test trial receives 'fantastic" response in Telford as appointments fill up
A mobile clinic offering a test which can detect certain types of cancer before symptoms appear was quickly fully booked in Telford.
The new blood test is called Galleri and arrived in the area this week.
Julie Garside, director of performance at Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The response to the NHS-Galleri trial in Telford has been fantastic.
"These people are contributing to a study that could prevent cancer deaths not just here but across the UK and around the world.”
Selected residents, who are all aged between 50 and 77 living in Telford, responded to letters sent from the NHS inviting them to participate in the NHS-Galleri trial.
The participants – who have not had a cancer diagnosis or treatment in the last three years – will have a blood sample taken at their first appointment.
They will then be invited back after 12 months, and again at two years, to give further blood samples.
Any participants whose results indicate a possible cancer will be followed up by the NHS.
The trial is the first of its kind and aims to recruit 140,000 participants nationally, including those who have now signed up in Telford
It will assess how well the test works in the NHS and whether the technology can be used as a tool to screen people with no cancer symptoms.
The trial team will include people from different backgrounds and ethnicities to ensure results are relevant for as many different people as possible.
Sir Harpal Kumar, president of GRAIL Europe, the company that has developed the Galleri test, said: “We are eager to bring our technology to people in the UK as quickly as we can.
"We’re delighted to partner with the NHS to support the NHS Long Term Plan for earlier cancer diagnosis and grateful to thousands of members of the public coming forward to participate in the trial.”
The test is a simple blood test that research has shown is particularly effective at finding cancers that are difficult to identify early – such as head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic, and throat cancers.
It works by finding chemical changes in fragments of genetic code – cell-free DNA (cfDNA) – that leak from tumours into the bloodstream.
The NHS Galleri trial is being run by The Cancer Research UK and King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit in partnership with the NHS and healthcare company, GRAIL.
Patients whose condition is diagnosed at ‘stage one’ typically have between five and 10 times the chance of surviving at least five years compared with those found at ‘stage four’.
Initial results of the study are expected by 2023 and if successful, NHS England and NHS Improvement plans to extend the roll-out to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025.
The trial is the latest initiative launched by the NHS to meet its Long Term Plan commitment of finding three-quarters of cancers at an early stage by 2028.
