Accelerating Better Treatments and Better Lives for Patients with Blood Cancer

Help drive the change needed now to create better blood cancer treatments for patients through ALLG clinical trial research

Imagine

a world where blood cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma can be cured fully or be effectively managed as an ongoing, chronic condition instead of a life-threatening illness.

A world where all people diagnosed with a blood cancer have access to the newest, potentially life-saving treatments available.

Our vision

is a world where all blood cancers can be treated effectively and even cured.

A world where people with blood cancers can have a longer and better quality of life, making a world of difference for patients and their families.

ALLG’s mission

is to create better treatments and better lives for patients with blood cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

We will achieve this through designing and conducting our leading-edge blood cancer clinical trials and research across Australia and New Zealand.

Blood Cancers in Australasia

This year alone, 19,400 Australians and 2,500 New Zealanders will be diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

Blood cancer can develop in anyone, at any age, at any time, and there are no preventative measures available like there are for other cancers.

Blood cancers represent some of the rarest and high-cost conditions to treat, and there are significant barriers to accessing emerging therapies in Australasia, leaving patients at a disadvantage.

That’s why the work of the ALLG is so important.

ALLG believes that all patients with blood cancers deserve better and less toxic treatments that help to create better lives, better survival outcomes and potentially, a cure.

Our Work

ALLG is Australasia’s only not-for-profit blood cancer clinical trial group.

Our membership of over 1,000 world-leading haematologists, scientists and blood cancer researchers is committed to improving the treatment, lives and survival rates of patients with blood cancers.

Together, we are tackling the biggest challenges of blood cancers like lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma.

Members of the ALLG Doctors & healthcare professionals

trial hospital sites across Aus/NZ

patients supported by ALLG in FY2022

trials and research projects in progress

years of creating Impact for patients

international cooperative research group partners

Our clinician researchers are located in hospitals throughout Australia and New Zealand and are on the front line treating and supporting patients with blood cancers every day.

They are dedicated to designing and conducting independent blood cancer clinical trials that explore and find new and better ways of treating – and even curing – blood cancers.

Clinical trials are the crucial link between a discovery made in the laboratory and an advancement in new treatments reaching patients.

Clinical trials are essential to improve treatment for patients, and to improve the medical knowledge for how to make a difference in the quality and length of patients’ lives.

Without the ALLG and our independent, investigator-led clinical trials, many Australian patients would have fewer viable treatment options both now and in future.

Find out more about ALLG’s Work

Five Decades of Impact for Blood Cancer Patients

Since 1973, the ALLG has been conducting clinical trials focused on delivering new treatments and supporting better lives for patients living with blood cancer.

ALLG Member researchers have designed and conducted over 160 clinical trials that have had a significant impact on cancer care.

Our clinical trials have directly enabled 12,500 patients across Australia and New Zealand to access new treatments for their blood cancer. The results of ALLG trials have shifted the dial, adding to global knowledge of better treatments and changing the way blood cancers are treated around the world.

What is a clinical trial?

A clinical trial is a scientific study, or an organised test of medicines and new treatment options.

The trial team includes doctors, nurses and other health professionals who carefully follow the protocol (or plan) of the trial. They check the health of the participating patient at the start of the trial, give specific instructions for participating, monitor the patient through the trial and stay in touch after the trial is completed.

Survivor Stories

Hemi’s Story

Hemi Frires was only in his late 20s and a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force when he was diagnosed with advanced stage Hodgkin Lymphoma. Hemi was able to participate in the ALLG’s HD10 clinical trial.

Hemi said, “They were vague symptoms at first, fatigue and malaise, so easy to brush off and ignore but then the intense itchiness of my feet and elbows got so bad I scratched until I bled.

“There was a GP at my work. He went through a whole list of possible causes and we kept investigating for about two months. Finally, it came back as cancer.

“The news came like a bolt out of the blue. I have no family history of this.

“My GP referred me on to see a haematologist specialising in blood cancer, [ALLG Member] Dr Claire Hemmaway in Auckland New Zealand who took over my care. She set up a check of my organ function and ordered a PET-CT scan, which was crucial in staging what I had. It ended up as Advanced Stage 4B Hodgkin Lymphoma. Despite this, my doctor was confident I would be okay.

“My doctor recommended a clinical trial, HD10, as I fit the criteria. It seemed sensible to have a chance at an improved outcome from the trial, so I took the opportunity.

Continue reading Hemi’s story and others like it at the Survivor Stories page.

“The news came like a bolt out of the blue. I have no family history of this.”

Chief Investigator of the ALLG HD10 clinical trial, Professor Mark Hertzberg, said that patient outcomes from the international trial that Hemi participated in show “the best results we have ever seen in young patients from 18 to 60 years old. The analysis of this study, at just under three and a half years, confirmed that 95 percent of patients remain free of disease recurrence.” The superior outcomes of the ALLG HD10 clinical trial will change how Hodgkin Lymphoma is treated worldwide.

Professor Mark Hertzberg

Prince of Wales Hospital and University of NSW

Change the Future

Not all new treatments work for all patients. We’ve made big strides to speed up progress against hard-to-treat blood cancers but we won’t take our foot off the accelerator until this translates into better treatments, better lives and a great outlook for all patients.

With 60 people being diagnosed with blood cancer every day, and 15 people dying from their cancer every day, we must do more.

By 2035, the number of people diagnosed with blood cancer is projected to rise to more than 36,000 people a year. The total number of deaths from blood cancer will approach more than 15,000 people a year – nearly as many as the number of people diagnosed annually with blood cancer today.

By investing in rigorous, quality clinical trial research now, we can change this future.

Changing clinical practice from good to better treatments, while searching for a cure, takes research, time, talent and funding to make it possible.

Clinical trial costs can run into the millions of dollars, but they are the only way to research better ways to treat blood cancers and improve and save people’s lives while searching for a cure.

The ALLG receives no ongoing funding and relies heavily on the support of organisations and individuals to support our essential clinical trial research.

Clinical trials are essential if we are to end blood cancer, once and for all.

Every donation makes a difference to patients with blood cancers.

ALLG believes all patients with blood cancers deserve better and less toxic treatments that help to create better lives, better survival outcomes and potentially, a cure.

DONATE NOW

Ways to Support:

Donate

Your donation to blood cancer research will help Australia’s leading researchers end blood cancer sooner.

Monthly Giving

Monthly giving is critical to ALLG’s research. Your monthly gifts helps support our researchers to find new and better treatments for blood cancers.

Research Accelerator Program:

ALLG Clinical Trials Fellowship

We are seeking philanthropic contributions from supporters to establish the ALLG Fellowship. Donations from $100 to the full cost of $70,000 to fund one Fellowship for one year are welcomed.