The Government will provide funding for a £120 blood test that has the potential to detect the 12 most common cancers before symptoms develop.
The Mionco screen can identify 50 cancers before producing a false positive result and is a form of the PCR test used during the Covid pandemic, according to the scientists involved in its development.
It controls the 12 most common forms of the disease: lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, colorectal, ovarian, liver, brain, esophageal, bladder, bone and soft tissue sarcoma and gastric sarcoma.
The Government will provide £2.5 million through the National Institute for Health and Care Research to improve the speed of testing, the Sunday Mirror reported.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a cancer survivor, told the newspaper it could be a “game changer” in the treatment of the disease within five years.
Streeting said: “Just a few drops of blood can tell you if you have lung, breast or bladder cancer, ending the months-long wait for tests and scans.
“These innovations can be game changers and life savers. But a lack of Tory investment means the NHS is 15 years behind the private sector when it comes to technology. We have fewer scanners per patient than Greece.
“Your life chances depend on your zip code and whether you can afford to go private. I am determined to equip the NHS with cutting-edge technology so that it benefits the many, not just the few.”
Scientists from the University of Southampton are said to have used clinical information from 20,000 cancer patients to develop the screening.
The next phase involves improving the effectiveness of the artificial intelligence involved, which analyzes the test samples and biomarkers by entering 8,000 blood samples from people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Prof. Paul Skipp from the University of Southampton said: “A test like this could save many lives and catch cancer much earlier. We hope to have an NHS test in five to seven years.
Currently, NHS screening tests are carried out for breast, bowel, cervical and lung cancer, but these involve a scan or a biopsy.
Skipp added: “The UK spends £800 million a year on screening for these four cancers, with a further £91 million spent on false-positive follow-ups.”
Last month, a £42 million screening study aimed at revolutionizing the treatment of prostate cancer began in Britain.
The initial phase will involve thousands of men, and as the program progresses several hundred thousand volunteers could be recruited over the coming years, trial organizers say.