MediSieve's device captures Leukaemia blasts from the bloodstream in order to reduce the patient's white blood cell count.

Leukaemia is a cancer of the bone marrow where white blood cells (WBC) are produced. When a person has Leukaemia, the bone marrow produces a lot of abnormal and immature WBCs, or “blasts”, which multiply rapidly and are incapable of contributing to immune function.

These eventually spill over into the bloodstream crowding out normal cells. High levels of circulating Leukaemia blasts present problems for both chemotherapy and newer targeted monoclonal antibody therapies. The circulating cells can prevent the therapeutics from reaching the bone marrow where the disease begins and the death of large numbers of circulating cells can create potentially life-threatening side effects for the patient.

The long-term goal for clinical trials is to prove the value of magnetic filtration as a pre-treatment to traditional or next generation Leukaemia therapies. The MediSieve technology would only remove the blasts and would bring a patient's WBC count down to normal levels, reducing the side-effects of a further chemotherapy.