The NHS should offer all cancer patients genetic profiling of their cancers at diagnosis and during treatment to shape care and track how the disease evolves, a consensus group of leading experts has concluded.

A drug combination targeting multiple mutant versions of cancer’s ‘death star’ protein has shown promise in a small, early-phase clinical trial for some patients with advanced lung, ovarian and thyroid cancer.

Scientists have created a prototype test that can predict which drug combinations are likely to work for cancer patients in as little as 24 to 48 hours.