Could a blood test help GPs identify which patients need urgent cancer investigations? A new UK clinical trial (STRIDE-RCT) announced on 4 November 2026 will investigate that question.
STRIDE-RCT will involve more than 20,000 NHS patients across at least 200 GP practices in England. People aged 45 and over with abdominal symptoms, such as persistent bloating or discomfort, can take part in the cancer blood test trial.
The cancers covered by the trial will include bowel, small bowel, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver, bile duct and gallbladder, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer.
This new trial gives the chance for clinicians to catch these conditions earlier, when treatment is more effective, potentially saving lives.
For oncology biotechs, the study highlights the importance of testing diagnostic technologies within everyday care. The University of Birmingham-led platform trial will evaluate the tests alongside GPs’ input before any decisions or wider adoption are considered.
Other developments shaping oncology clinical research
The launch of STRIDE-RCT comes shortly after ESMO 2026, where researchers shared advances in personalised treatments, approaches to drug resistance and treatment combinations. Cancer Research UK’s ESMO congress review highlighted encouraging findings alongside the further evidence needed to establish how these approaches could fit into NHS care.
1. Personalised cancer vaccines
In INTerpath-001, adding intismeran autogene to pembrolizumab after surgery for high-risk melanoma reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 42% compared with pembrolizumab alone. Overall-survival data remain immature. Cancer Research UK also highlighted manufacturing challenges and cautions that success in melanoma may not translate to other cancers.
2. Bispecific antibodies in solid tumours
DeLLphi-305 evaluated tarlatamab plus durvalumab as maintenance treatment for extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer. Median overall survival was 21.1 months versus 12.7 months with durvalumab alone. Treatment-specific safety monitoring, including monitoring for cytokine release syndrome, remains an important consideration.
3. Antibody–drug conjugates
CLARITY-Gastric01 demonstrated an overall-survival benefit with sonesitatug vedotin in previously treated CLDN18.2-positive gastro-oesophageal cancers. However, its other primary endpoint (centrally assessed progression-free survival in the overall population) did not reach statistical significance. Both findings matter when assessing the treatment’s potential.
4. Targeting treatment resistance
SAFFRON showed that combining osimertinib with savolitinib improved progression-free and overall survival compared with chemotherapy in selected EGFR-mutated lung cancers following progression on osimertinib. Eligibility required defined MET overexpression or amplification, showing the importance of assessing tumour biology when investigating resistance-directed treatments.
5. Combining radiotherapy with systemic treatment
The UK phase II SARON study found that adding local consolidation radiotherapy improved progression-free survival in selected patients with oligometastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, without significantly reducing quality of life. Overall-survival results were similar between groups. Progress can also come from refining combinations of existing treatments.
6. Investigating molecularly guided intervention
TREAT ctDNA is evaluating whether changing treatment when circulating tumour DNA becomes detectable, before imaging shows relapse, can improve outcomes in ER-positive/HER2-negative early breast cancer. Initial findings have helped refine eligibility for ctDNA surveillance; whether treatment escalation improves outcomes remains under investigation.
What this means for biotech sponsors
These developments raise two connected priorities: selecting patients appropriately and making specialised studies deliverable.
For sponsors planning studies, biomarker testing, sample logistics, referral pathways and safety requirements should inform feasibility and recruitment assumptions from the outset. STRIDE-RCT also reinforces the importance of evaluating innovation within the setting where it is intended to be used.
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