Pancreatic cancer is often detected when it is at an advanced stage and very difficult to treat successfully. Early diagnosis is therefore key for better survival rates. Patients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have a higher-than-normal risk of developing pancreatic cancer. This also includes those who have had a recent raised blood sugar level which could be a sign of developing type 2 diabetes. In the UK, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is around 2%. Of these, 1 in 4 people are first diagnosed with diabetes. This is due to pancreatic cancer affecting the insulin producing cells in the pancreas.

There is currently no approved screening test for pancreatic cancer. ClearNote Health, USA, has developed a new pancreatic cancer test called Avantect. The test detects the presence or absence of pancreatic cancer in blood, but no screening test is 100% reliable. SAFE-D is a study that aims to show how well the Avantect test works on early detection of pancreatic cancer in individuals with early signs of or newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Blood samples, and clinical and participant reported data will be collected from individuals with signs of new onset type 2 diabetes to see how well the Avantect test performs in detecting pancreatic cancer at an early, treatable stage.