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Cancer Research has opened the first trial of a new type of drug to treat children aged from six months to 18 years with acute leukaemia, who are no longer responding to treatment.

In this first-in-child study, 15 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) will receive a treatment called AT9283. AT9283 belongs to a new class of drugs called aurora kinase inhibitors.

The trial is led by Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne and is also running at four other clinical centres.

Despite great progress in the treatment of childhood leukaemia, approximately 100 children with leukaemia under the age of 15 die each year in the UK. Leukaemia that has returned or is resistant to current treatments remains one of the key causes of death from childhood cancer. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in childhood.

Chief investigator and CCLG member Professor Josef Vormoor, said: “It’s devastating to have to tell parents of a child with leukaemia that the disease has returned. Or that it’s unlikely their child can be treated with existing drugs.

“So I’m incredibly excited about the launch of this trial, to see if a new drug can treat the disease, when a child has stopped responding to current treatments." 

Read full story @ Cancer Research UK