Leukaemia Busters was founded at Southampton General Hospital in 1989 to meet an unmet need – the development and testing of new more effective treatments for children with incurable forms of blood cancer. The interactive timeline below details some of the most important events in the charity’s history through to the present day.
Leukaemia Busters is founded
Simon Flavell dies
Major fundraising campaign is launched
Simon Flavell Leukaemia Research Lab opens
First Charity registration
Official opening of the Simon Flavell Laboratory
First clinical trial begins
Drug development work
Second clinical trial begins
Third clinical trial begins
Clinical Trials Unit established
New European rules
Research and development work
Registration as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Research and development work
The Simon Flavell laboratory closes
Establishment of Simon Flavell Research Fellowships
Leukaemia Busters is founded
by parents of children with leukaemia and lymphoma whose children were undergoing treatment in the Wessex Children’s Cancer Unit at Southampton General Hospital. One of those sets of parents, Drs David and Bee Flavell were already actively pursuing research in their laboratory at Southampton General Hospital, making antibodies against leukaemia and lymphoma cells when their only son, Simon was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 1988.
Simon Flavell dies
with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia after almost two years of intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Major fundraising campaign is launched
by Southampton-based local Echo newspaper to raise £150,000 to build a new laboratory for research on developing antibody-based treatments for children with incurable forms of leukaemia and other blood related cancers. The new laboratory, it was universally agreed, should be named The Simon Flavell Leukaemia Research Laboratory.
Simon Flavell Leukaemia Research Lab opens
and development work on the charity’s first antibody-based drug, BUSAP begins immediately.
First Charity registration
with the Charity Commission as a charitable trust Registration No 1010957.
Official opening of the Simon Flavell Laboratory
at Southampton General Hospital by Gary and Michelle Lineker who shortly after become the charity’s first patrons and remain so for the next eleven years.
First clinical trial begins
with BUSAP, an immunotoxin targeting B-cell lymphoma in adult patients to prove safety before proceeding to a trial in children with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Drug development work
on second antibody-based drug OKSAP begins for patients with myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Second clinical trial begins
with OKSAP in adults with myeloma again to demonstrate safety in adults before progressing to a clinical study in children with relapsed leukaemia.
Third clinical trial begins
at eleven children’s cancer centres around the UK with BUSAP for children with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. This was to be the first time an antibody-based drug of this type had been used in children with leukaemia in the UK.
Clinical Trials Unit established
to deal with new regulations and requirements following a new European Clinical Trials Directive.
New European rules
2004 New European rules make clinical trial work too expensive for the charity to afford and all promising clinical trial work is subsequently halted
Research and development work
is prioritised to discover ways of increasing the effectiveness of the charity’s portfolio of five immunotoxin drugs and to explore alternative ways of boosting immunity to act in concert with the immunotoxin drugs already developed by the charity.
Registration as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
with the Charity Commission to give increased flexibility and to meet the needs of the charity well into the future Charity registration No 1157147.
Research and development work
continues in the Simon Flavell Laboratory and new discoveries are made and published in international scientific and medical journals.
The Simon Flavell laboratory closes
after 36 years of continuous research and development supported by Leukaemia Busters and other medical research charities.
Establishment of Simon Flavell Research Fellowships
to support research for early career scientists to pursue research on the immunotherapy of leukaemia and lymphoma using antibodies and other immunologically-based methods. Read More.