Nice to recruit specialists for breast cancer test assessment

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is to recruit a number of diagnostics specialists to assist in the assessment of a new breast cancer testing method.

Five additional members are to be appointed to the healthcare regulator's diagnostics advisory committee in order to evaluate the benefits of the Randox Breast Cancer Array, a new DNA-based biochip assay that examines breast cancer tumour markers.

It is believed that the ability of this test to analyse 23 genes simultaneously will allow breast cancers to be classified into different types, offering an alternative to traditional immunohistochemical analysis.

Nice is seeking healthcare professionals with knowledge of breast cancer issues to provide opinions on the device, which may also offer potential in predicting the risk of disease recurrence after surgery.

Professor Adrian Newland, chair of the independent diagnostics advisory committee, said the body will look to "assess all the available evidence on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of this technology and make recommendations on whether, and if so how, it might be used in the NHS in England".

Cancer Research UK figures show that breast cancer has now become the most common form of the disease in Britain.