A life-saving wonder drug pioneered in the North-East is on course to revolutionise leukaemia treatment throughout the world.

Research by an international team led by a Newcastle specialist has shown that Glivec is far superior to conventional treatment when prescribed as a first-use drug.

Results show that cancer-causing cells virtually disappeared in 76.2 per cent of patients given Glivec as a first-line treatment compared with only 14.5 per cent of patients treated with conventional drugs.

Patients in the region were the first in Europe to be treated with Glivec, as a trial, in the late 1990s.

The drug's incredible ability to stop chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in its tracks stunned doctors.

It works by targeting leukaemia cells, leaving surrounding cells unharmed. Most patients return to normal and there are very few side-effects.

Despite being fully licensed in the UK, the drug - which costs £18,000 per patient per year - was not widely available to NHS specialists until August last year.

The Northern Echo helped to break this logjam by highlighting the plight of County Durham leukaemia patient Ann Tittley.

Last June, she wrote to her MP - Prime Minister Tony Blair - asking why she was being denied the drug, which at that stage was only available to NHS patients in Scotland. But after a campaign and pressure from her consultant Mrs Tittley, 55, was given access to Glivec.

A few weeks later the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) ruled that Glivec should be made available to patients throughout the NHS after other drugs had been tried.

Last night, Mrs Tittley said: "I am fighting fit, I had a bone marrow biopsy before Christmas and I am 97 per cent free of the leukaemia cells."

CML affects about 4,000 Britons, with around 800 new cases a year. Currently, NHS specialists can only give Glivec as a second-line treatment after other drugs have been tried and found wanting.

But the latest trial, involving 1,106 patients in 16 countries, clearly demonstrates that patients do best if they are given Glivec as soon as they are diagnosed.

Dr Stephen O'Brien, a consultant haematologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle and the man who ran Europe's first Glivec trial four years ago, said: "I am very proud this has been led from the North-East. This is world-class clinical research which will be read all over the world. We have led the way in Newcastle."

Dr O'Brien said the results represented a major step forward in the treatment of leukaemia. "What we have seen in this study - which compares the old way of treating patients with the new way - confirms that the response rate is much better if Glivec is used first."

Dr O'Brien said he was optimistic that the evidence presented in his report will persuade Nice to change the guidance in August, allowing haematologists in the UK to prescribe Glivec to newly-diagnosed leukaemia patients.

About 100 patients are currently being treated with Glivec after being seen by RVI specialists, most are from the North-East.

Mrs Tittley said Dr O'Brien was "doing a wonderful job" for patients. "Patients who got in touch with me after your article are also on Glivec now and they are all doing well," she said.

After being given Glivec Mrs Tittley gradually returned to normal, her hair grew back and she feels much more energetic and confident.

"You would never believe I was the same person," she added.