Irish researchers make breakthrough in fight against leukaemia

A POTENTIAL cure for a rare, life-threatening form of leukaemia could be one step closer after Irish researchers unveiled a breakthrough in treating the condition.

In a move that brings a successful treatment for the rare form of blood cancer into sight, researchers from Dublin, Galway and Belfast have developed a new drug which can help to overcome the illness without producing debilitating side-effects.

Every year, approximately 40 people across Ireland develop chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).

Previously developed medications had helped to control the condition, but were ineffective in one in every three patients due to the liver and other organ side effects involved.

However, independent clinical trial research from oncologists in Dublin, Galway and Belfast has supported previous findings from pharmaceutical giant Novartis that a new drug called Tasigna can be used as a first line treatment for the condition without posing the same risks associated with previous medications.

Professor Michael O Dwyer, consultant haematologist at University College Hospital Galway and head of the ongoing clinical trial research, said the drug produced better results and fewer side effects than the existing treatment – making it significantly more effective in tackling the condition.

Further research on the medication is due to be released in the US early next month, he said, and if proven successful the new treatment could be available on a wide-scale basis in Ireland within the next 18 months.

Michael Lavelle, from Achill Island, last year became the first person in Europe to receive the drug as part of the Irish trials, which involve University College Hospital Galway, St James’s Hospital in Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and Belfast City Hospital.

While he is still in the early stages of recovery, he said the results to date are “better than I could have imagined”.

“I see people being pumped in with chemotherapy every day, but I don’t have to do that. I still have my days when I have no energy, but it’s a better alternative that what I could have been facing,” he said.

The study has been welcomed by the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) which part-funded the clinical trial through the All-Ireland Co-operative Oncology Research Group (ICORG). It has provided more than €3 million in cancer research funding over the past decade.

The ICS’s cancer research officer Dr Sinead Walsh described the research findings as a significant step towards developing a cure for the life-threatening condition.

“Approximately 40 people in Ireland every year develop this condition and this further breakthrough after previous developments really shows that treatments are available, and are improving,” she said.