A DRUG trialled at a Liverpool hospital has given new hope to leukaemia patients suffering a relapse.

The Royal Liverpool Hospital took part in an international trial of the antibody drug MabThera, also known as rituximab.

Results showed that combining the medication with chemotherapy drugs almost doubled the number of patients going into complete remission, compared to chemotherapy alone.

It has now been granted a licence to be used by all patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in the UK.

Previously, the life-extending drug was only licensed for newly-diagnosed patients, not those who have relapsed.

The trial showed that progression of the disease was stopped for 10 months longer, on average, in patients given the drug.

Professor Andrew Pettitt, consultant haematologist at the Royal, said: “Using rituximab with chemotherapy is one of the most significant advances we have seen in this type of leukaemia – it has improved patient’s experiences considerably.

“For patients who have relapsed after previous treatment – a common scenario in this disease – the combination of rituximab with further chemotherapy offers a vital lifeline.

“The ultimate goal for these patients is to get them back into the best remission possible, and rituximab with chemotherapy achieves this for twice as many patients compared with chemotherapy alone.”

More than 20,000 people in the UK have CLL and, in about two-thirds of cases, patients suffer a relapse.