A TOP European Commissioner has raised hopes that the work of local charity Leukaemia Busters may be able to continue unaffected by new EU restrictions on clinical trials.

The charity is facing the possibility of having to halt parts of its vital research into helping child leukaemia sufferers. The ruling would mean exorbitant costs would be foisted on to small research units, making the cost of clinical trials soar from less than £50,000 to £1m.

It would see the same standards applied to non-commercial clinical trials as those set up for profit-making pharmaceutical companies mass-testing drugs for the open market.

But commissioner Erkki Liikanen said in a letter to Hampshire MEP Chris Huhne, who raised the issue on behalf of Leukaemia Busters, that he was "confident that some of the concerns would be properly addressed" during preparation of guidelines on the directive.

Mr Huhne said the problem arose because the directive stated there should be only one sponsor for clinical trials, whereas charities like Leukaemia Busters often clubbed together with universities and others to fund non-commercial research.

He added: "This is a real problem for research into conditions like leukaemia that affect relatively few, because the big drug companies are not interested. Research is up to charities and academics who must not face new obstacles."

In a letter to Mr Huhne, commissioner Liikanen, said: "Your concerns regarding potential hurdles to research have been taken on board."

He added it was not the intention of the commission that the implementation of the clinical trials directive in national law should have a prohibitive effect on prospects for European research. Visit www.leukaemiabusters.org.uk for more details.