Once again, the All Wales Medical Genomic Service has received national recognition for our outstanding work in collaboration with industry partners and the subsequent reshaping of cancer diagnostics in NHS Wales.
On December 4th 2025, our QuicDNA Project Team were announced as winners of the Medi Wales ‘Health and Social Care – Industry Collaboration Award’!
What is the QuicDNA study?
Lung Cancer diagnoses have historically been confirmed in patients via surgical tumour biopsies which can be invasive, involve longer pathways to diagnosis and delays to starting targeted treatment.
This pioneering partnership has evaluated the trial use of liquid biopsies within the lung cancer diagnostic pathway in Wales through blood testing - as a simple and non-invasive alternative to surgical tumour biopsies, whereby genomic analysis of the blood sample is carried out to detect traces of cancer DNA.
Who is involved?
This project has seen AWMGS team up with Illumina, Welsh Government and a range of industry partners including;
Amgen
AstraZeneca
Bayer and Lilly
Moondance Cancer Initiative
Centre for Trials Research
Health and Care Research Wakes
Life Sciences Hub Wales.
Where did it start?
Initial conversations surrounding the potential use of liquid biopsy technology in the lung cancer treatment pathway began at the Welsh Cancer Industry Forum in 2022 and the launch of the project took place in April of 2023 with AWMGS taking lead as the providers of genomic testing in Wales.
How is it going?
Liquid biopsies can be collected early in the diagnostic pathway and provide genomic analysis, this can speed up treatment decision-making and allow patients to receive treatment more quickly, which could transform outcomes and improve survival rates.
The success of this ‘pioneering partnership’ with Illumina (amongst others) has now seen national expansion of the study across multiple Health Boards in Wales, including;
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Hywel Dda University Health Board
Swansea Bay University Health Board
The Future
The QuicDNA project showcases a collaborative effort to innovate healthcare in Wales, and in collaboration with Welsh Government, the outcome of the study so far is paving the way to cementing liquid biopsy as the standard of care for all Health Boards in Wales.
Following the success of the initial rollout for lung cancer, the trial will now be expanding the study to other cancer types through application of earlier detection and implementing precision medicine as a direct result of genome analysis – this next phase is ‘QuicDNA Max’.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to all involved with the QuicDNA project, we are very proud to have contributed to such a transformative and innovative piece of work with the potential to speed up treatment and improve survival rates, as well as provide more comfortable testing methods for patients.
AWMGS are thankful to the partners who have participated and part funded the project, with special thanks to the Maxwell Family Genomics Fund, driven forward by patient advocate, Craig Maxwell who has dedicated his life to fundraising to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment pathways in Wales, since his lung cancer diagnosis in 2022.
You can read more about Craig’s story and the impact of his fundraising efforts here;
