More research needed on causes of leukemia, as growing lifespan of patients enables study, says GlobalData

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) patients are now able to access more successful treatment, which has led to decreasing mortality rates, and may yet lead to desperately-needed research on the causes of this little-understood disease, states new analysis from research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The new report states that longer patient lifespans now mean that research into the disease is possible, as study participants are more likely to survive the length of a study. CML is a rare cancer of the white blood cells, characterized by increased and unregulated growth of myeloid cells originating in the bone marrow that invade the blood and potentially other organs.

GlobalData epidemiologists forecast that the number of incident cases of CML across Japan, the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK will increase by 15% over the next decade, from 10,645 newly diagnosed cases in 2012 to 12,252 cases in 2022, due to increases in population numbers. The incidence rate of CML has gone relatively unchanged over the past four decades, and this trend is expected to continue in the future.