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Leukaemia Research
The Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund



Leukaemia is a disease that afflicts all age groups including children and until the mid-1970's, killed almost all patients, often within weeks of diagnosis.  Since then, there has been a gradual improvement in survival time and now at least 70% of children can expect to be cured and with adults under the age of 60 years, the cure expectancy has risen to approximately 50%.  The basis for this success has been a clear understanding of the exact sub-types of leukaemia that exist, so the treatment with conventional drugs can be optimised to sub-groups of patients. However, we need to finish the job and using existing treatment methods there is diminishing returns on obtaining further improvements in cure rates. But with the advent of new understandings of the human genome, it is now becoming increasingly possible to define exactly what has triggered the disease process so that treatments can now be undertaken of a more biological nature, in keeping with how the body functions.  These processes are more akin to a natural healing process and we hope in the next 2 decades to be able to exploit this biology so that tailor-made treatments can be delivered according to the individual patient's needs.  To this end, a clear understanding of exactly what has happened to patients in the past is essential and there is therefore a need for sophisticated databases that can tell us in detail about all of the treatments and events that take place in the pathway of a patient's management from diagnosis to the end, be that cure or failure.  The database at the Royal Marsden was constructed and refined by Prof Powles over a thirty year period and contains 20 million bits of information on 3000 patients, and is a model for other similar databases worldwide. The Fergus Maclay Database was a crucial central part of this process that came at a critical part in it's development.
 
The Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund is a registered charity (Num: 259670) that has been funding all aspects of leukaemia research at the Royal Marsden Hospital and elsewhere over the last thirty five years, including the Marsden leukaemia database (see above), a part of which was raised to new levels with the donation of a considerable amount of money following the treatment of Fergus Maclay at the Hospital. 

Funded projects of the Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund - click here

The Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund is dedicated to supporting all aspects of this work and has recently made a substantial donation to the Royal Marsden Hospital in connection with the database.
 
By channelling money into the Bud Flanagan Fund, it is possible that a comprehensive and planned use of charitable monies can be used in a coordinated way to help with leukaemia research and the database at the Marsden and with complementary centres elsewhere, linked to this initiative.  The Bud Flanagan Fund, unlike other charities, does not have any significant overhead expenditure and almost all of its money is used to support the Marsden.  Professor Ray Powles is the Medical Advisor to the Bud Flanagan Fund and it is intended that money raised in the GB Row Challenge will be used exclusively to supporting database information relating to the Marsden patients and this will predominantly be used to pay for technological/manpower input into this data management.

Prof Ray Powles
Head Haematooncology Unit
Parkside Cancer Clinic
London
Office Telephone:0208 9447979
E-mail: leukaemia@clara.co.uk
Website - click here 


Beating the odds



A father-of-three from Brighton who, against the odds, is living a normal quality of life 13 years after being diagnosed with advanced myeloma, was among special guests invited to the first international Myeloma Grand Round at the Royal Marsden.

Big Red Book double whammy



Double takes were order of the day when Royal Marsden Professors Ray and Trevor Powles became the unwitting stars of a special edition of This Is Your Life.

First patient and 2,500th patient celebrate
bone marrow transplant success



Ian Cuneen’s name went down in medical history in 1973 when he became the first person in Europe to undergo a successful bone marrow transplant. Now, 28 years later, Mr Cuneen returned to the hospital where he was treated to meet Trevor Woods, the 2,500th patient to have recently undergone the treatment at the Royal Marsden’s Leukaemia and Myeloma Unit in Sutton.


Fergus Maclay Leukaemia Database

Fergus was treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton by Professor Ray Powles, one of the world’s leading Haematological Oncologists who has practised at the Marsden for the last twenty five years. During this time he has operated a data base for collecting information on many of his patients. The information gathered over the years is unique and of significant value for future treatment and the development of new drugs and procedures.
 
The treatment of leukaemia is highly complex involving a multitude of drugs, many of which produce reactions which will vary from one patient to another and also according to previous procedures. The database will enable data mining of hundreds of thousands of treatments. The power of this information will reduce the precarious nature of the treatment and make leukaemia even more treatable.
       
Ray and members of his team at the Marsden have disseminated the findings from all this research worldwide. Ray retires in the next few years and recognises the importance of the continuation of the database, which will require considerable future funding.
 
We were both flattered and perhaps surprised that Ray should suggest that the Database be called The Fergus Maclay Leukaemia Database; we felt that the Ray Powles Database would be more appropriate. However the name has now been settled.
 
The basic annual cost of running the database is already provided for. However additional funds are required to pay for a dedicated research fellow working in tandem with the research statistician to optimise the database and also use it for generating publishable clinical analysis.

The full funding (£50,000 per annum) of a fellow (plus technical help) over a five-year period is still required.  We aim to provide a significant part of this.
 
If you wish to know more about the Fergus Maclay Leukaemia Trust please do not hesitate to get in

Angus Maclay