Cancer tests could lead to more clinical trials

A new range of cancer tests has been developed, which scientists hope will help research of the disease and get more patients on clinical trials.

The Glasgow Cancer Tests are a suite of affordable solid tumour and blood cancer tests designed to be used in routine healthcare, such as the NHS, around the world.

It would open up the latest treatments and trials to cancer patients and also help scientists discover what makes the illness resistant to chemotherapy drugs.

Professor Andrew Biankin is regius professor of surgery at Glasgow University and director of the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory (GPOL), where the tests have been developed.

He said: “The Glasgow Cancer Tests were created so that ultimately every patient with cancer could have access to the latest treatments and clinical trials.

“Our team of inventors, including Susie Cooke, Philip Beer and David Chang, have dedicated the last five years of their lives to creating this test which will enable patients around the world to access the best treatments for their cancer.

“I’m extremely proud of what the team have done and where this might take us for healthcare in the future.”

The Glasgow Cancer Tests analyse genetic code from a sample of a patient’s cancer to look for biological markers that could indicate which trial drugs would work and which would not – and how it has developed in the first place.

They are currently being evaluated by NHS labs in England and Scotland while also being used in a Glasgow University-led Precision-Panc clinical trials programme for patients with pancreatic cancer.