For decades, healthcare has operated in silos. The diagnostic lab discovers a cancer mutation. The data scientist identifies a pattern. The oncologist prescribes treatment. Each brilliant in their domain. Each working in isolation. But what happens when they finally start talking?

The answer is unfolding right now across hospitals in London, laboratories in Boston, and cancer centres throughout Europe. And the results are measurable: 16 days faster treatment initiation, minutes instead of weeks for critical biomarker detection, and billions in market validation.

The NHS Liquid Biopsy Revolution: 16 Days That Matter

In April 2025, the NHS launched the world’s first national “liquid biopsy first” approach for cancer diagnosis, a fundamental shift in how diagnostics connect to treatment decisions.

The new reality: circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) detection from a simple blood draw, identifying specific genetic mutations within days, enabling clinicians to initiate tailored treatment 16 days faster than traditional tissue biopsies.

Since launch, the programme has tested more than 1,600 suspected lung cancer patients and 600 advanced breast cancer patients across NHS hospitals in England, with projections to help up to 15,000 lung cancer patients and 5,000 breast cancer patients annually. An independent evaluation estimated savings of up to £11 million per year in lung cancer care alone.

From Weeks to Minutes: AI Transforms Colorectal Cancer Diagnostics

UK hospitals face a critical bottleneck: approximately 44,100 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer annually, yet only 58% begin treatment within the NHS-recommended 62-day window. In March 2024, over 58,000 people in England waited over four weeks for a cancer diagnosis.

The convergence solution: PANProfiler Colorectal (MMR/MSI), an AI-powered diagnostic approved through the UK’s MHRA AI Airlock regulatory pathway. The technology analyses the same tissue slides pathologists use for initial diagnosis but delivers results within minutes rather than weeks.

Validated on over 4,700 UK colorectal cancer samples, the system enables oncologists to receive critical biomarker information on the same day as tissue diagnosis, determining eligibility for immunotherapy that can increase survival rates by up to 80%.

324 Genes, One Test, Multiple Treatment Pathways

In August 2024, the U.S. FDA approved Illumina’s TruSight Oncology (TSO) Comprehensive test, a diagnostic test interrogating over 500 genes from a patient’s solid tumour to profile actionable biomarkers simultaneously.

NTRK gene fusions occur in only 0.1-0.3% of most solid tumours. RET fusions occur in up to 2% of NSCLC cases. Before comprehensive genomic profiling, these rare but treatable mutations were frequently missed.

Foundation Medicine achieved a historic milestone in December 2025: 100 approved and active companion diagnostic indications for next-generation sequencing, more than any other company globally. They’ve delivered over 1.5 million patient reports and demonstrated that comprehensive genomic profiling provides therapy or clinical trial recommendations for over 70% of advanced breast cancer patients screened.

This is diagnostics, data, and therapeutics in a three-way conversation, speaking the same molecular language.

The Children’s Hospital Where AI Works 24/7

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London published its AI Strategy for 2025-2028, implementing AI-driven diagnostic support and robotic assistance for paediatric surgeries.

In 2024, GOSH participated in a London-wide pilot of ambient voice technology AI. The operational impact: an average **10% reduction in consultation time** per appointment. With 240,000 annual appointments, this translates to 24,000 hours of clinician time returned to direct patient care.

The convergence dimension: clinical notes become structured data feeding diagnostic decision support systems, which connect to treatment protocols. Voice observations trigger AI monitoring alerts before conditions worsen.

Broader NHS initiatives demonstrate scale: Through the government’s AI Diagnostic Fund, Annalise.ai’s chest X-ray platform is being introduced in 64 NHS trusts, checking for more than 120 conditions. Since 2019, the NHS has invested £113 million in 80+ AI-driven innovations.

When Rare Cancer Care Becomes Integrated, Not Fragmented

In May 2025, researchers published a case study in personalised medicine* documenting ShapeHub’s implementation in the Swiss Sarcoma Network, a digital platform demonstrating integrated care pathways at scale.

ShapeHub functions as an interoperable data ecosystem: diagnostic results, treatment updates, and specialist consultations integrated into a unified dataset accessible to every care provider in real-time. Using AI-driven natural language processing and FHIR standards, it creates simultaneous visibility across the care continuum.

The documented outcomes: improved diagnostic pathways, reduced unplanned surgeries, optimised radiotherapy protocols, and cost efficiency through elimination of redundant testing.

This is precision medicine becoming a precision care pathway.

The Real-World Data Revolution

The majority of cancer patients in the United States are diagnosed and treated outside clinical trials, their experiences recorded in electronic health records. Until recently, this real-world data existed in fragmented silos, unusable for precision medicine research.

Federated data platforms solve this challenge. Organisations like Datma pioneered models where data custodians retain control while researchers query across networks, enabling secure access without centralised transfer.

Foundation Medicine’s real-world clinico-genomic databases link electronic health records with comprehensive genomic profiling results. A June 2024 study on metastatic breast cancer demonstrated how this identifies mutations predicting therapy resistance—enabling treatment adjustment before resistance emerges rather than after treatments fail.

The conversation between diagnosis, data, and treatment becomes self-improving, machine learning at population scale.

Where Convergence Happens

The examples above share one thing: Convergence happens when diagnosis, data, and treatment stop operating in silos and start talking.

On 4-5 November 2026 at the QEII Centre in London, we’re bringing together the complete patient pathway under one roof:

Hall 1: Precision & Molecular Diagnostics – Where disease is identified

Hall 2: Digital & Data-Driven Healthcare – Where intelligence guides decisions

Hall 3: Therapeutics & Translational Medicine – Where treatment transforms outcomes

Three halls. One patient journey. From diagnosis to digital decision-making to treatment.

If you’re developing breakthrough diagnostics, building AI and data platforms, or pioneering therapeutics and translational medicine that complete the patient pathway, join us!

Start the conversation that transforms healthcare.

Note: All data points cited are from government publications, peer-reviewed journals, FDA approvals, company announcements from publicly traded entities subject to disclosure requirements, or market research firms’ published analyses.