The National Health Service (NHS) has released results from a trial study of a multi-cancer early detection test (MCED) named Galleri, developed by the California-based healthcare technology company Grail. This clinical laboratory blood test can detect up to 50 types of cancer and pinpoint their location within the body.
The study, named SYMPLIFY, was a collaboration involving the University of Oxford and began in 2021. The Galleri test was found to be 85% accurate in determining the source of the cancer. The test’s overall sensitivity was 66.3%, ranging from 24.2% for Stage 1 cancers to 95.3% for Stage IV cancers. The findings suggest that while the test isn’t yet precise enough to definitively confirm or rule out cancer, it holds promise in aiding doctors in clinical assessments and could potentially reduce the need for invasive biopsies in the future.