Pharmaceutical company Prolifix has won another patent for a possible new breast cancer treatment.

The European Patent and Trademark office has granted the company recognition for its new research into breast cancer therapies. Prolifix, based at Milton Park, near Abingdon, has already received a US patent for the discovery and applications are pending in other countries.

Researchers working for the company have been focusing on a range of compounds called DP1 peptides, which can induce cell death. This could be useful in tackling cancer tumours, where cell growth gets out of control.

The move follows an announcement by Oxford GlycoSciences that it has identified potential treatments for certain proteins associated with the disease which could be useful for more than 85 per cent of women affected by breast cancer.

The Prolifix patent covers a compound which the researchers believe controls cell proliferation, particularly in cells which grow in response to stimulation of the female hormone oestrogen.

Dr Renate Zwijsen, Dr Robert Michalides and Prof Rene Bernards have been working for Prolifix at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, which has given the company rights to the discovery.

Prolifix, a world leader in cell cycle drug discovery, aims to discover and develop novel, small molecule drugs to attack diseases associated with unnatural cell growth.

The company plans to develop treatments for a number of cancers, as well as other diseases.

Chief scientific officer Prof Nicholas La Thangue said: "Strong intellectual property is a strategic imperative for successful pharmaceutical companies and this is our second important patent in as many months."

Prolifix was set up in 1994 to commercialise discoveries made at the Government's Medical Research Laboratories at Mill Hill, London.