First full results from the NHS-Galleri trial published in leading journals

The first results from the NHS-Galleri trial have been published as research papers in leading scientific journals. The two papers provide full details of the first results from the trial, including whether using the Galleri® multi-cancer early detection (MCED) blood test changed the stage at which cancers were diagnosed and how the test performed.

About the research papers

The first paper, published in a journal called New England Journal of Medicine, looks at if the test helped to find cancer early and if it changed how people were diagnosed.

This paper reports that there was no difference in the number of people diagnosed with late-stage cancer overall between people who had the blood test (test group) and people who did not have the test (control group), when stage 3 and stage 4 cancers were looked at together. This means that the trial did not meet its main goal.

The paper also reports that fewer people were diagnosed with the most advanced cancers among those who had the test, when stage 4 cancers were looked at on their own. There were more early stage cancers (stage 1 and 2) in the test group. In people who had the test, more people were diagnosed with cancer after screening and fewer were diagnosed in an emergency situation.

The second paper, published in the journal Nature Medicine, provides data on how accurate the test is.

This paper describes how around a third of people who had cancer got a cancer signal detected (‘positive’) test result. Nearly everyone who did not have cancer got a no cancer signal detected (‘negative’) test result. This means that the test gave a false alarm less than 0.5% of the time. Around one in 100 people had a positive test result. Around half the people who had a positive result were diagnosed with cancer.

Professor Richard Neal, Co-Chief Investigator for the NHS-Galleri trial and Professor of Primary Care at the University of Exeter, said: ​“The publication of these two papers in two world-leading journals marks a major milestone for the NHS-Galleri trial and for the clinical evaluation of MCED tests. As the world’s first randomised controlled trial of an MCED test, NHS-Galleri provides the first evidence of its kind on whether using the test can change when and how cancer is diagnosed. These publications are a testament to the years of work by our research teams and the extraordinary commitment of the thousands of participants who returned year after year to contribute to the trial.”

What happens next

The papers provide more detail for the results presented at a scientific conference in May 2026. It is common for researchers to present key study results at a conference and then publish them in full in longer research papers. Before the journals decided to publish the research, other researchers reviewed the methods, results and conclusions. This is known as peer review and is an important step in making sure research is of a high standard.

More results will be available in the coming months and years, as researchers carry on collecting and analysing data from the trial. The NHS and other health organisations will review the results of the trial in detail to understand how this type of test could be used in the future.