Thousands more UK black men to be invited for prostate cancer screening

Health secretary announces expansion of Transform trial but does not back population-wide testing

Thousands more black men will be invited to take part in a prostate cancer screening trial as the health secretary insisted he was “following the science” in not backing population-wide testing.

James Murray accepted a recommendation from the UK national screening committee (UKNSC) that will result in only a few thousand high-risk men with a gene mutation being screened for the disease.

However, he announced funding to expand the Transform trial, which is exploring the best ways to test for the disease, to ensure it includes more black men.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in the UK, with more than 64,000 men diagnosed every year.

Last week, the UKNSC recommended against screening all men using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test, saying it was “likely to cause more harm than good”.

Instead, men with BRCA2 genetic mutations – which puts them at far higher risk – will be tested every two years between the ages of 45 and 61 if they have a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancers.

Prostate cancer is more common, develops earlier and can be more aggressive in this group.