Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) As of September 1st 2020, patients with relapsed/refractory CLL and SLL considered unsuitable for treatment or retreatment with a purine analogue (a chemotherapy agent) will have access to acalabrutinib. One of the criteria for purine analogue ineligibility is the presence of ‘del17p’ which is a genomic … Continued
Four years ago, if you had a blood cancer in Western Australia (WA) and needed access to the latest treatment via a clinical trial, you had no alternative other than flying to Melbourne or Sydney, every other week. This inequality of care in Western Australia led Snowdome to fund Blood Cancer Research WA. The centre … Continued
Victoria has been in lockdown for 3 weeks and new COVID 19 cases don’t seem to be slowing. What does all this mean to us as a community and those of us living with a blood cancer? https://youtu.be/qFCfDhnb038
Through the funding provided by the Snowdome Foundation Assoc Professor Chan Cheah has been able to ‘make hope real’ for Western Australian blood cancer patients. Blood cancer patients now have access to clinical trials in their home state. That means access to next-generation treatments that are quite often a life line, providing them with more … Continued
Prof Prince provides another useful update on the COVID-19 pandemic. This week he discusses the importance of downloading the government COVID app. The difference between a virus and a bacterial infection, your questions surrounding immunity as a blood cancer patient and resuming scheduled SCT. Lastly he touches on the importance donating to the Snowdome Foundation. … Continued
The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) has given a positive recommendation to Kymriah a CAR T-cell therapy to treat refractory or relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) including transformed, and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL). The treatment would cost an individual up to $500,000 but will now be funded by the government. In … Continued
Dr Pilar Dominguez is a senior postdoctoral researcher working with Prof Ricky Johnstone at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Her research is focused on the role that abnormal epigenetics processes play in lymphoma formation with the aim of finding a way to overcome this anomaly. Her research project is funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma … Continued
It is disappointing to learn that the Medical Services Advisory Committee did not find in favour of funding tisagenlecleucel a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The committee felt that the evidence in support of the therapy was not as promising in DLBCL as it was in the … Continued
Paul Mutimer had niggling back pain and was constantly tired, but he felt it was due to his workload as a psychologist and his age. At 57 being tired and suffering some back pain is not an uncommon story. His wife, however, was not convinced and finally got him to see a GP. Blood tests … Continued