About the trial

The BioDriveAFS trial is a research project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to find better ways to treat and prevent serious fungal infections in patients receiving intensive chemotherapy for blood cancers such as Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, Myelodysplasia, and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. People with blood cancers can develop serious fungal infections whilst undergoing intensive chemotherapy. To reduce the risk of patients developing a fungal infection they are often given a regular antifungal as a preventative therapy.  However, overuse of these drugs can cause the fungi to become resistant, making the drugs less effective. This happens because many patients take the drugs to prevent only a small number of fungal infections. The BioDriveAFS trial aims to compare the use of antifungal drugs to prevent infections with closely monitoring patients for infections using regular blood tests, and further tests when needed to treat fungal infection early if one is suspected.  This way, we can reduce the use of antifungal drugs without affecting patients' quality of life or increasing the risk of fungal infections.