# Vanguard Study (NCI Cancer Screening Research Network)

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/vanguard-study/  
OnCo record `vanguard-study` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The US government's first randomised study of multi-cancer blood tests: 24,000 people are being assigned to a blood test or usual care to work out how a much larger trial should be run.

## Summary

The Vanguard study is the National Cancer Institute's randomised feasibility trial for multi-cancer detection tests, run through its Cancer Screening Research Network. The registry lists it as an interventional, randomised study with no drug phase, an estimated 24,000 participants, a start on 18 June 2025, recruiting status, primary completion on 31 January 2029 and study completion on 30 June 2029, across bladder, breast, colorectal, oesophageal, gastric, liver, lung, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancers. It is the counterpart to NHS-Galleri: a public-sector randomised test of the approach rather than of one company's product, and its design will decide whether a mortality-powered trial follows.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: recruiting
- Last checked: 2026-09-21
- Also known as: The Vanguard Study: Testing a New Way to Screen for Cancer
- Tags: ctdna-roadmap
- Registry id: NCT06995898
- Phase: platform
- Setting: Adults without a cancer diagnosis in the United States: randomised to a multi-cancer detection blood test or usual care to test whether a full randomised screening trial is feasible
- Sponsor: National Cancer Institute
- Enrolled: 24000

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06995898: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06995898

## Connected records

- trials: [NHS-Galleri](https://onco.cc/trials/nhs-galleri/), [PATHFINDER 2](https://onco.cc/trials/pathfinder-2/)
- drugs: [Galleri](https://onco.cc/drugs/galleri/)
- ideas: [Registry-based randomised MCED trial: a million people, no study visits](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-registry-randomised/)
- roadmaps: [ctDNA tests roadmap: from a curiosity in plasma to blood tests that decide treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/ctdna-tests/)
- technologies: [Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)](https://onco.cc/technologies/liquid-biopsy/), [Multi-cancer early detection (MCED)](https://onco.cc/technologies/mced/)
- institutions: [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)
- terms: [Positive predictive value (PPV)](https://onco.cc/terms/ppv/), [Stage shift](https://onco.cc/terms/stage-shift/)

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