Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the website of the Carreras Leukemia Center (CLC).

In the presence of José Carreras, the Carreras Leukemia Center (CLC) was officially inaugurated on September 25th, 2009 at the University Hospital Marburg. The José Carreras Leukemia Foundation and RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG each contributed 1.67 million euros to the more than 3.7 million euros that had to be invested in the special ward, and the medical department of the Philipps University of Marburg 0.4 million euros contributed. Laboratory facilities and a 16-bed ward with high-tech infrastructure have been created for this purpose.

The capacity of the special ward is 100 bone marrow transplants per year - the Marburg clinic is currently in the middle range in Germany with 70 to 85 transplants.

The rooms, which are accessible via double locks, are hermetically sealed from the outside world, for example by special window sealing systems. The fresh air is supplied through HEPA filters (High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter). There is a permanent slight overpressure in the rooms to prevent the influx of air through the doors. And the taps are equipped with legionella filters to block the path of bacteria here too. This equipment improves the chances of success considerably. After a bone marrow transplant, the patient's immune system is practically switched off - he is completely defenseless against attacks by viruses, bacteria and fungi. New drugs against such infections and new hospital technology have contributed to the fact that the prognosis for all leukemia has improved by an average of 30 percent over the past 20 years.

The peculiarity of the Marburg Leukemia Center compared to other centers funded by the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation: It pursues a translational approach, so it serves not only either for pure research or to improve care, but also for direct implementation (translation ) of the research results in patient care at the same location. For this purpose, two hospital rooms in the ward, each with two beds, are declared as "Clinical Trial Units", as a research center in which new drugs are being used in clinical studies in phase I (testing for side effects) and phase II (examination of the effectiveness). Test subjects are blood cancer patients who have been exhausted from therapy and expressly make themselves available for these clinical studies and protocols.

With the information on this website we would like to introduce you to the CLC and provide you with some essential information. However, these cannot and should in no way replace the discussion with the treating experts. Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

We hope to provide you with all the information you need on the following pages and will be happy to assist you when you come to our clinic.