Wonder-drug that makes tumours 'self-destruct'

Trials show that the drug doubles the amount of time patients in the advanced stages of malignant-melanoma survive without their condition worsening.

The deadliest form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma affects more than 8,000 Britons a year - and claims more than 1,800 lives.

There are few drugs available to treat the cancer when it has spread to other parts of the body and 70 per cent of patients die within a year of being diagnosed with this advanced form of the disease.

The new drug, known only as STA-4783, offers fresh hope for the future.

Produced by US-pharmaceutical firm Synta, the drug kills skin cancer cells by overloading them with oxygen to such a point that they self-destruct.

Crucially, normal healthy cells are not affected, the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona heard.

However, pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells may also be susceptible.

A study of 81 patients with advanced skin cancer looked at whether giving the new drug in combination with the standard drug treatment improved their prognosis.

In those given STA-4783 in addition to the normal drug, the condition did not worsen for an average of 3.7 months - twice as long as for those just given the standard drug.

Patients on the experimental combination lived an average of 12 months after diagnosis, while the others lived for around eight months.

Side-effects, suffered by less than five per cent of patients, were similar to those seen in regular chemotherapy treatments, such as a temporary lowering of white blood cells, back pain and fatigue.

Dr Anthony Williams, of Synta, said the study was the first of its kind to show an improvement in survival in patients.

"We are taking advantage of the Achilles heel of cancer cells," he said.

"Patients with advanced melanoma really do not have a lot of options.

"We only get one chance to save patients' lives, and this may be a good starting point."

Dr Alex Eggermont, a cancer expert from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said: "This could have a profound effect on patients.

"Melanoma is so phenomenally complex that we desperately need new drugs to fight it."

Although the study showed patients living longer with the cancer, there is hope that, because the drug caused tumour cells to die off, it could potentially be used as a cure.

Synta will soon start a bigger study with more than 600 patients at 150 cancer centres worldwide, with the aim of having the drug on the market in under three years.

Dr Kat Arney, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'At the moment, there aren't any really effective treatments for advanced malignant melanoma.

"This new drug acts on cancer cells in a new way, which is potentially exciting. It will be interesting to see the results of the larger scale trials that the scientists have planned."