RMCH doctor is UK Chief Investigator for international trial into treatments for children’s leukaemia
A
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital doctor who is the UK Chief
Investigator for an international trial into treatments for
childhood leukaemia, has randomised the first UK recruit onto the
study.
Consultant Paediatric Haematologist, Dr Denise Bonney will
compare the two best available treatment options for children with
standard risk relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
Central Manchester University
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the UK sponsor for the study,
in conjunction with The
University of Manchester, Charité in Berlin and The University of Berlin. It
is supported by the NIHR
Clinical Research Network and 20 countries are set to take
part, including across Europe and in Japan, Australia and New
Zealand.
Though the survival rate of children with ALL has improved in
recent years, around 10% of patients will relapse and this remains
a leading cause of death in childhood cancer. Given the rarity of
the disease, only a large international cooperative group can
recruit sufficient patients for further studies with specific
questions in biologic subgroups.
An initiative by experts from the International BFM study
group (I-BFM SG), funded by the EU FP7 framework, led to the
creation of the International
Study for Treatment of Childhood Relapsed ALL (IntReALL)
group. The aim of the group is to establish a
comprehensive platform for diagnostics and treatment of childhood
relapsed ALL in Europe and beyond.
The first clinical trial from the project will compare the two
best available treatment options for young patients; the ALL
R3 which is standard treatment in UK, and REZ BFM 2000 (standard
treatment in Europe), to find out which is the best.
Dr Bonney said: "We will be asking the parents of
all children with standard risk relapsed ALL if they are willing to
take part in this study. The more patients that take part, the more
information we can gather to help us to improve the treatment of
children with relapsed leukaemia. Studies such as this are an
essential part of improving treatment, and success to date is based
on children being involved in previous studies.
"This research has been reviewed by the National Cancer Research
Institute (NCRI),
Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Clinical Studies Group and
Leukaemia Subgroup and has been approved by the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA)
and the National Research
Ethics Committee (NRES)."