A genetic treatment for cancer developed by an Oxford company has passed its first safety tests, writes Maggie Hartford.

Eight cancer patients are being treated with MetXia, developed by Oxford BioMedica at Oxford Science Park.

After three doses, the new gene was successfully transferred to all the patients, said the company, and the drug appeared to be safe and well-tolerated.

A virus carrying the gene is injected into tumour cells and makes an enzyme which is crucial for activating common anti-cancer drugs.

The gene is engineered so that it cannot leak out to surrounding healthy cells, so that the powerful chemotherapy drug targets only the tumour cells.

In laboratory tests, BioMedica has already shown that MetXia makes the tumour cells more sensitive to the chemotherapy drug. The company hopes that this will mean patients can be given lower doses of chemotherapy, reducing side-effects.

In the first human trials, five breast cancer patients and three with melanoma skin cancer were treated.