Leukaemia UK have hailed the power of life-changing research as a breakthrough leukaemia drug has begun trial hoped to tackle AML which over 3,000 people are diagnosed with each year in the UK.

Leukaemia is a type of blood cancer which affects white blood cells, having a dramatic impact on a patient's immunity. Every day in the UK, 28 people – 10,000 a year – are told the devastating news that they have leukaemia. Despite decades of progress, only half of leukaemia patients live longer than five years after their diagnosis and the 5-year survival for one type of leukaemia, called acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), is just 15.3%.

Over 3,000 people are diagnosed with AML each year in the UK, including 100 children. Despite greater understanding of the disease, the mainstream therapies for acute leukemias like AML have remained unchanged for decades, often involving harsh treatments like chemotherapy and stem cell transplant.

The 28th May marked World Blood Cancer Day, raising awareness of the disease that kills 15,000 people in the UK alone, on the same day, it was announced Dr Konstantinos Tzelepis, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, had discovered a protein essential for AML cell survival but, crucially, not for normal blood formation, making it an excellent treatment target.

In doing so, Dr Tzelepis and his colleagues at Cambridge identified a new targeted drug – called STM2457 - with the potential to treat AML, which is now entering patient trials.

Dr Tzelepis said, "This is the result of many years of research and could mean the beginning of a new era for cancer therapeutics. We are at an exciting stage with clinical trials about to begin. The first AML patients to access the drug through the trial will be adults who have not responded well to current treatment options such as chemotherapy. If the results are as expected, we also hope the drug will offer an important treatment option for children with AML."

One person who is eager for these developments is Iona Beastall, a 23-year-old marketing graduate from Kingston, Surrey.

Iona was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 20 and underwent successful treatment, only to receive a shock diagnosis of therapy-related AML two years later, caused by all the chemotherapy she underwent in order to cure her lymphoma.

Despite the poor prognosis for AML patients, Iona's story is a remarkable one of success. She underwent a successful treatment programme of chemotherapy, further medication and crucially, a stem cell transplant.

However, Iona has been told that there is a lifetime limit on the treatment she has received – she has now undergone so much chemotherapy that she has reached the limit for one particular drug. If she was to relapse, she would be desperate for a newer and more effective form of treatment – hopefully one that can be as effective as the chemotherapy she has already received but without the strain that it puts on the human body.

Commenting on Dr Tzelepis' drug which has entered clinical trials, she said: "I hope that research like this into new treatments can help improve the prognosis and experience for the next people to be diagnosed with leukaemia. Ultimately, we need to find more and more ways for people to survive this diagnosis."

Iona is working with Leukaemia UK to raise awareness about Leukaemia and its symptoms, and to help drive improvements in diagnosis and support progress for kinder and more effective treatments.

To find out more on Leukaemia UK's projects and leading research, head over to their website here.