A BLOOD test that detects dozens of types of cancer in people with no symptoms may be rolled out on the NHS as early as next year.
The Galleri test picks up traces of loose tumour DNA, signifying the disease is present in the body.
Its maker says it can spot signs of more than 50 types of cancer, including rarer ones.
And results of a trial on 140,000 middle-aged Britons will show how effective it is when they are released in the summer of 2026.
US manufacturer Grail does not want to wait before starting widespread testing.
Its president Sir Harpal Kumar, the former CEO of Cancer Research UK and ex-chair of the NHS Cancer Taskforce, said: “We’re hopeful these trial results will be positive and then it is a case of how quickly we can get to implement it.”
The NHS and Department of Health are already in talks about how to roll out the test as fast as possible if the trial results come good.
Sir Harpal said: “I don’t have any expectation that we’re going to go straight to screening the entire population.
“But we can’t do what we’ve done in the past, which is get results from great trials and then take 10 years before we get to a decision to roll anything out.
“It’s about thinking forward about how we start to implement it and use these kinds of technologies as quickly as we possibly can.
“We waste too much time and lose too many lives waiting and waiting.”
If the technology is approved for NHS use it could be targeted at high-risk older people first.
Cancers become more common with age but many cause no symptoms in the early stages, so they do not get detected until they are harder to treat.
A quick test for those who feel healthy or have only vague symptoms would let doctors spot more cases earlier.
The Galleri trial, involving volunteers aged 50 to 77, stuttered last year when the NHS scrapped an expansion because findings were unconvincing.
NHS director Prof Peter Johnson said: “We will wait to see final results before considering whether an NHS roll-out of the Galleri test should go ahead.”
Sir Harpal added: “The way forward cannot be that we have a screening programme for every single type of cancer.
“We’re going to have to have multi-cancer screening tests.
“The good news is the technology is there and it’s continuing to improve.
“There’s a real sense of opportunity coming down the track.
“These new innovations would reduce the burden on very stretched NHS diagnostic resources where we have big problems.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We are working with NHS England to ensure that patients benefit from the latest treatments as quickly as possible and will look closely at the outcome of the NHS trial of the Galleri test.”