The government will pay for a blood test that has the potential to identify 12 malignancies early on, according to health secretary Wes Streeting.

According to Mr. Streeting, the blood test will help detect cancer before symptoms appear and strengthen the UK economy.

The government has invested £148 million in a number of medical technology projects; additional initiatives include AI diagnosis and customised immunotherapy regimens.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) states that research hubs will be established at all of the nation's universities.

The funding will "help partner our universities, health service, and pharmaceutical giants to produce new cutting-edge treatments," according to Mr. Streeting, who wrote this in The Sunday Mirror.“Dr Andrew Shapanis and Professor Paul Skipp will lead a team working on a new blood test, which will detect 12 of the most lethal and common cancers at an early stage,” Mr Streeting wrote for the paper.

“Just a couple of drops of blood could tell you if you had lung, breast or bladder cancer, helping end months-long waits for tests and scans.”

The research hubs will be at University College London, the University of Liverpool, the University of Bristol, the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh.

Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle has said that “backing cutting-edge technologies not only offers the hope of longer, healthier lives, they have the potential to grow the economy – unleashing a torrent of investment into life sciences that will boost jobs, opportunities and growth”.

“This is why the life sciences sector will be at the heart of the International Investment Summit next week – as investors across the world recognise the value of this industry, for growth and for lifesaving solutions.”

Mr Streeting said: “As a cancer survivor, I know how vital an early cancer diagnosis and the latest treatments are. This investment will not only save lives, but also secure Britain’s status as a powerhouse for life sciences and medical technology.

"We can develop treatments that can change patients' lives and help boost the economy of Britain by combining the expertise of our nation's top scientists with the compassionate care provided by the National Health Service (NHS)."

According to DSIT, among the medicines and equipment that could eventually be brought to market are cheaper scanners that could help detect early signs of cancer and training AI models to diagnose cancer through data shared throughout the NHS.