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A new drug that may prolong the life of women suffering from ovarian cancer could be available in five years, according to British scientists.

Eight out of 18 women who were given the experimental drug found their tumours shrank or stabilised, meaning they could live longer than doctors originally predicted.

This response rate is unusually high, as typically fewer than 20 per cent of patients respond to experimental cancer drugs.

Chief trial investigator Iain McNeish, a professor of gynaecological oncology at Barts, told the Guardian: "The hope with this group of patients was to slow down the progress of their ovarian cancer, improve the quality of their life and possibly make them live longer."

He added that if the drug becomes a treatment, it could lead to a whole new way of treating ovarian cancer.

The drug, codename CNTO328, was tested in a clinical trial at the Centre for Experimental Cancer Medicine, part of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Currently there is no proven screening tool for ovarian cancer, which is the biggest gynaecological killer of women in the UK.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Medical Developments and treatments.