Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals said sapacitabine, its treatment for acute myeloid leukemia in elderly patients, has shown a 30 per cent survival rate in Phase II clinical trials, significantly outperforming rival therapies.

The data will be welcome news at the global biopharmaceutical company, which has had to stop looking for new targets and concentrate on its existing product pipeline, particularly sapacitabine. Cyclacel has greatly reduced its Cambridge base and ended research activities there, though the company cofounder and chief scientist, Professor David Glover, continues to operate out of its Babraham-based facility, which still supplies products for clinical trials.

Sapacitabine is targeted at people aged 70 or older with either newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or AML in first relapse.

Cyclacel is now working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US to design a Phase III study for its use in hematological malignancies -  the cancer type that affects blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.