Since then, Cure Leukaemia has expanded to a national level, and we can now offer potential life-saving treatment to patients across the UK.
Thanks to our huge CL Family of dedicated fundraisers, they have continued to grow each year and connect more patients to potentially lifesaving treatment.
In 2023, thanks to the amazing fundraising efforts of the Cure Leukaemia family and the charity’s flagship event, The Tour 21, they announced the expansion of the National Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) Network from 12 to 15 Centres.
The charity funds the TAP Network, which comprises a network of specialist research nurses at blood cancer centres in the UK’s biggest cities.
The TAP network currently allows a catchment area of over 20,000,000 patients to be connected with world-class and potentially lifesaving treatments that would otherwise not be available to them through standard care – with over 40,000 people diagnosed with blood cancer every year.
Four new hospitals will join the network – Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, the Manchester.
Royal Infirmary and The Royal Marsden – join Centres in Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Southampton and London (x2) to form the TAP Network.
Cure Leukaemia was established in 2003 by Professor Charlie Craddock CBE and patients Graham Silk and Michael Woolley to allow patients with blood cancer in the Birmingham region to access remarkably effective new treatments that were becoming available.
Following a two-year transformational charity partnership with Deutsche Bank in 2019, this allowed Cure Leukaemia to launch a 3-year £3,000,000 commitment to funding the national TAP Network.
Speaking about the expansion of the TAP Network, Cure Leukaemia Founder Professor Charlie Craddock CBE said:
“Thanks to the generous funding of Cure Leukaemia’s transformational funding of the Trials Acceleration Programme, we are able to offer opportunities to deliver practice-changing clinical trials for blood cancer patients, with potentially globally significant results.”
Speaking about the expansion of the TAP Network, Professor Chris Fox, Haematology & Consultant Haematologist, University of Nottingham, said:
“I’m delighted that Cure Leukaemia has continued to generously support the Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) network, committing a further 3 years of core funding for 15 centres of expertise across the UK. The geographical reach of the TAP network will increase access for patients with blood cancers to participate in clinical trials, allowing many more patients the opportunity to benefit from effective new treatments.”
“A wealth of new and potentially transformative treatments for blood cancer are on the horizon, but it is crucial that we understand how best to safely and effectively use such therapies and to identify which patients will benefit the most. This can only be achieved through well-designed clinical trials led by teams of blood cancer specialists; the TAP network is a hugely important UK-wide resource supporting this mission.”
Speaking about the expansion of the TAP Network, Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive James McLaughlin was delighted to further the reach of the Network:
“We are excited to announce the expansion of the Trials Acceleration Programme with a further three centres across the UK. Through this, we are ensuring that the TAP Network covers an even wider catchment area than the previous three years, which will allow us to run more clinical trials and provide blood cancer patients with access to novel therapies which could help save more lives.”
Dr Emma Searle, a Consultant Haematologist based at The Christie Manchester, and Dr Richard Kelly, a Consultant Haematologist based at Leeds Teaching Hospital, talk about just how important Cure Leukaemia is and how much of a difference the TAP Network makes.
How does Cure Leukaemia help?
- Cure Leukaemia helps to fund the Trial Acceleration Programme (TAP) across the UK, which connects leukaemia patients to potentially lifesaving trial treatments.
- The money they kindly receive through donations and the community’s support helps fund the research nurses.
- At Cure Leukaemia, we believe there is a moral duty to test new drugs quickly and, if effective, make them available to patients across the region, the UK and the world.
- We have spent the last decade developing a tried and tested formula for delivering clinical trials that work.
- A specialist nurse costs £40,000 per year to fund, and by funding more nurses, we can potentially save more lives.
