History

The origins of the ALLG date back to 1973 when Dr Fred Gunz, then director of the Kanematsu Institute at Sydney Hospital, convened a meeting of nine haematologists in Canberra to discuss the formation of a study group to perform clinical trials in leukaemia and lymphoma.

By 1975, the group was joined by haematologists from Perth and Auckland and subsequently adopted the name of the Australian and New Zealand Lymphoma Group (ANZLG). The first major trial conducted by the ANZLG was a randomised phase III clinical trial in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which commenced in 1975 and was completed in 1978.

In 1982, Drs Ray Lowenthal and Paul Vincent organised a separate investigator meeting which led to the formation of the Australasian Leukaemia Study Group (ALSG).

After several years of collaboration, the ANZLG and ALSG merged in 1999 to form a unified clinical trials group, the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group (ALLG), with Professor Ken Bradstock as the inaugural chairman.

Since this time, the ALLG has expanded its research portfolio to include not only lymphoma and leukaemia, but also bone marrow transplantation, multiple myeloma, supportive care and laboratory sciences, and established the ALLG National Leukaemia and Lymphoma Tissue Bank (NLLTB).

The ALLG has undergone significant evolution since its inception in 1999 and has been instrumental in advancing blood cancer research in Australia and New Zealand. Today, the ALLG has a well-established international reputation and collaborative international trials are a feature of the ALLG trials portfolio.