CLINICAL TRIALS of an anti-cancer drug developed thanks to pioneering research at Dundee University are about to get under way.

Dr Barbara Spruce and her team worked on a protein called a sigma-1 receptor and showed that it was possible to get a drug called rimcazole to bind itself to it and trigger the death of a cancerous cell.

Last year the university did a deal with drug development company Modern Biosciences, giving it the exclusive worldwide rights to develop and market rimcazole.

The first phase of the trial will involve testing the safety of the drug on a dozen healthy volunteers.

Further trials are expected next year.

Dr Sam Williams, chief executive of Modern Biosciences, said, “The fact that we have moved rimcazole into the clinic just eight months after licensing the programme from the university is evidence of MB’s ability to identify viable drug development programmes from UK academia and to advance these towards proof-of-principle studies in a timely and cost-effective manner.”

Rimcazole has several features that make it particularly promising for the treatment of cancer, including the fact that it can be taken orally.

As well as stimulating cell death, it also prevents the growth of blood vessels within tumours and it has very little toxic effect on health tissues so side effects should be limited.

In recognition of her work, Dr Spruce received the inaugural Gannochy Trust innovation award of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2003.