TRANSFORM prostate cancer screening trial
First men tested in landmark £42m TRANSFORM prostate cancer screening trial
Prostate Cancer UK has announced that the first men have been tested in the landmark £42million TRANSFORM prostate cancer screening trial. Participants in the trial will undergo a combination of PSA blood tests, fast MRI scans and/or genetic spit tests to find the safest and most effective way to detect prostate cancer before it becomes incurable.
Rhian Gabe, Professor of Biostatistics and Clinical Trials at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health (QMUL), and a Lead Researcher on the TRANSFORM trial said: We are hugely grateful to the TRANSFORM participants accepting our invitations and to those now attending screening tests. This is an important milestone on the way to collecting essential evidence to inform a national prostate cancer screening policy.
Screening using new technologies and invitations shaped by behavioural science and stakeholder insights could address inequalities, and potentially save thousands of lives each year.
Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer overall in the UK, with >63,000 men diagnosed and >12,000 dying each year, with cases continuing to rise. Health inequalities, including a stark North-South divide, have created a postcode lottery that leaves too many men diagnosed too late, and too many others harmed by side effects of treating cancers that would never have caused them any harm. Inequalities are even more pronounced for Black men, who are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer and twice as likely to die from it. To address this, the target is that one in ten men invited to take part in TRANSFORM will be Black, with the trial team working closely with Black community leaders and organisations to ensure meaningful participation.
The first men joining the trial have been tested at the InHealth Community Diagnostic Centre in Ealing, with more centres opening soon across the UK. Men will be invited directly, so the trial mirrors how a future screening programme would operate.
TRANSFORM begins as the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) consults on its recent decision not to recommend screening for most men at risk based on current evidence. As well as improving the way we currently test, TRANSFORM will provide crucial new evidence which could help shift the balance in favour of screening.