Australasian Leukaemia & Lymphoma Group ALLG

Driving Better treatments…Better lives

Driven by our purpose ‘Better Treatments…Better Lives’, ALLG members have designed and conducted over 180 clinical trials over five decades that have had a significant impact on blood cancer care and directly enabled 14,500 patients across Australia and New Zealand to access new treatments.

Extensively networked with global cooperative blood cancer research groups, ALLG is at the forefront of driving progress and practice change for better treatments across all blood cancers, with more than 75 active clinical trials in various stages of recruitment, treatment and follow-up.

ALLG trial celebrates major milestone achievement

ALLG’s AMLM26 INTERCEPT clinical trial achieved a major milestone recently, gaining FDA approval to open this world-first trial in the United States at the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.

AMLM26 INTERCEPT is the first ALLG trial to open to patients in North America, offering targeted, precision medicine therapies to patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) via an innovative multiple adaptive arm platform trial design.

The AMLM26 clinical trial aims to treat AML patients before they relapse by monitoring their minimal residual disease (MRD) levels. Patients are enrolled onto the trial platform and receive cutting-edge genomic screening and personalised, targeted treatments to keep them in remission longer and with better survival outcomes.

AMLM26 is also pioneering Australia’s first National Molecular Program for continued MRD monitoring, ensuring consistent clinical practice nationwide and driving future research breakthroughts for AML patients.

Congratulations to AMLM26 Chief Investigator Professor Andrew Wei and the Australian and US AMLM26 investigators and trial team on this wonderful achievement.

ALLG AMLM26 Team (L to R): NBCR Project Manager Jenny Collins, CEO Delaine Smith, Dr Nastasha Anstee, Dr Sun Loo, Senior Project Manager Amanda Souza, Chief Investigator Prof Andrew Wei and CRA Rev Sharma.

Inaugural ALLG HSANZ Clinical Trials Fellowship Award

ALLG is delighted to introduce Dr Arina Martynchyk as our inaugural ALLG HSANZ Clinical Trials Fellow for 2025.

Dr Martynchyk is a Research Fellow at Austin Health Haematology/Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Melbourne. Dr Martynchyk’s ALLG Fellowship research project is titled ‘Hearing patient voices in blood cancer research: Patient Reported Outcome use, implementation and reporting in trials conducted by ALLG.’

This project involves research to define the optimal patient-reported outcomes measures to embed as best practice in ALLG clinical trial development pathways, aiming to accelerate understanding of the best quality of life tools in the context of novel blood cancer treatments like immunotherapies and CAR-T therapy.

The ALLG HSANZ Clinical Trials Fellowship provides a pathway for emerging clinical trial researchers to build their career and undertake research to drive Better treatments…Better lives for patients with blood cancer. Applications for the 2026 ALLG Fellowship will open in March 2025. To find out more, visit www.allg.org.au/support-us/our-campaigns.

ALLG Fellow Dr Arina Martynchyk with ALLG Scientific Advisory Chair, Professor Judith Trotman

Global Leaders with Global Impact

ALLG Members continue their prominence on the world stage, with a record number of ALLG clinical trial results (12) being read out at the recent American Society of Haematology (ASH) Meeting.  Congratulations to ALLG members Dr Chyn Chua, Dr Sun Loo, A/Professor David Yeung and A/Professor Peter Mollee on being accepted to deliver the trial results of AMLM25 INTERVENE, ALML26 INTERCEPT, CML13 ASCEND and MM24 ISAYMP as podium presentations.

Congratulations also to ALLG members A/Professor Shaun Fleming, Dr Katharine Lewis, A/Professor Nada Hamad, Dr Nisha Thiagarajah, Professor Steven Lane, A/Professor Anoop Enjeti, Dr Sueh Li-Lim and A/Professor Gareth Gregory on being accepted to deliver the trial results of ALL09 SUBLIME, NHL35 PACIFIC, BM13 CTTC, NBCR, AMLM27 IMPRESS, MDS05 MYDAST, MM22 FRAIL-M and NHL32 PACIFIC as poster presentations.

ASH is the world’s largest blood conference and presentation of ALLG clinical trial results at ASH 2024 further solidifies ALLG’s global reputation as Global Leaders with Global Impact, changing the way blood cancer is treated worldwide. Conducting research and sharing clinical trial results at ASH 2024 is vital to help ALLG members to advance blood cancer treatments for patients across Australia and New Zealand.

Celebrating ALLG Member Contributions

We welcomed three new ALLG Life Members at our November ALLG Scientific Meeting. ALLG Life Membership recognises a significant and sustained contribution to the advancement of haematology research and the objectives of the ALLG.

Congratulations to Ms Angela Bayley, Senior Data Manager and Clinical Trial Manager at Westmead Hospital; Professor Peter Browett, consultant haematologist at Auckland City Hospital, Professor of Pathology in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology at University of Auckland, and Chair of ALLG’s Safety and Data Monitoring Committee; and Professor Jeffrey Szer AM, senior haematologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Editor-in-Chief of Internal Medicine Journal.

ALLG 2024 Life Members (L to R) Professor Jeffrey Szer AM, Ms Angela Bayley and Professor Peter Browett.

2025 ALLG Scientific Meetings

The next ALLG Scientific Meeting will take place from 13-16 May 2025 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney. We look forward to welcoming our ALLG Members in May for an exciting scientific program and networking and professional development opportunities.

Don’t forget to also save the date for our November Scientific Meeting, at the Park Hyatt Melbourne from 11–14 November 2025.