California: According to a study presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025, a new blood test that can find more than 50 types of cancer, often before symptoms show up, could change how early cancer is diagnosed and treated.
The Galleri test, which was made by the American biotech company Grail, was tested on 23,161 people aged 50 and older in the US and Canada. It is a multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test. None of the participants exhibited prior cancer symptoms.
The results showed that more than half (53.5%) of the tumors found were at stage I or II, and more than two-thirds (69.3%) were at stages I-III, when treatment works better and can even cure the disease.
How Galleri Functions
The Galleri test finds bits of malignant DNA in the blood, which makes it possible to find tumors even when they are still little. It can reliably anticipate the tissue of origin, which helps clinicians make diagnoses faster and direct patients to the right follow-up care.
“Galleri’s ability to accurately predict where in the body the cancer signal comes from also helps to guide a more efficient diagnostic workup,” stated Josh Ofman, MD, MSHS, President at Grail.
“About three-quarters of the cancers that Galleri finds don’t have any recommended screening tests right now. He went on to say, “This is the only MCED test that has been proven in an interventional trial with a screening population, and it could change cancer screening for everyone.”
Next Steps
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will get data from this study along with data from the NHS-Galleri trial in the UK as part of Grail’s application for premarket approval.
Experts say the test could make a big difference in finding cancer early, lowering the number of late-stage diagnoses and raising the chances of survival.