
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.
This trial used blinatumomab to reduce the small number of leukaemia cells left in the blood after treatment for B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
This trial was open for people to join between 2010 and 2013. The researchers published the results in 2018.
Doctors usually treat acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) with different chemotherapy drugs.
When you finish chemotherapy, you have tests to see how it has worked. But sometimes there are a small number of leukaemia cells still in the blood. This is minimal residual disease (MRD). The leukaemia will come back (recur) if these cells start to grow again. Doctors hoped that blinatumomab would prevent or delay this happening.
Blinatumomab is a type of targeted drug called a monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies seek out cancer cells by looking for certain proteins on the cells’ surface.
The aim of this trial was to find out how well blinatumomab worked for people who had MRD.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Adele Fielding
Amgen
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
Around 1 in 5 people diagnosed with cancer in the UK take part in a clinical trial.