A WORCESTERSHIRE IT firm has formed a ground-breaking partnership with a blood cancer charity in a bid to help battle the condition using state-of-the-art technology.

IT solutions specialists OGL, based in Stourport-on-Severn, has announced the innovative partnership with Birmingham blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia, which aims to deliver an innovative data project in a bid to transform outcomes for patients.

The project, one of the first of its kind in the study of leukaemia, will create a bespoke platform to enable the Centre for Clinical Haematology, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, to collate samples from leukaemia patients undergoing clinical trials. When referenced against a patient’s own DNA, blood-type and other individual markers, the fully searchable database will enable analysts to identify trends in patients’ responses to drugs.

The data will then be used to support experts at the centre in identifying the most effective treatments for new patients.

The Centre for Clinical Haematology, supported by Cure Leukaemia, was established in 2003 and has treated more than 4,000 patients, acquiring more than £20 million of free drugs for clinical trials. Professor Charlie Craddock, co-founder of Cure Leukaemia, said the scheme would prove valuable in the aims of the centre.

“There is a compelling need to identify new treatments for patients with leukaemia across the West Midlands,” he said. “At the same time, this region has the most diverse population in Europe, which makes it very attractive for pharmaceutical companies looking to trial new, potentially life-saving treatments.”

Paul Colwell, research and development manager at OGL, said the project used state-of-the-art technology.

“As a business we have made huge investment in recent years into cloud computing to enable our commercial clients to benefit from cutting edge new technologies,” he said.

“When we were introduced to Cure Leukaemia last year, I was immediately interested to see what we could do to support the ambitions of the charity and how cloud technology combined with cutting edge clinical trials could improve outcomes for leukaemia patients. “Emerging technology now means it is possible to take a large volume of data and query it – something that wouldn’t have been possible even a couple of years ago.”

For more information visit cureleukaemia.co.uk.