SCIENTISTS have praised the bravery of North-East patients who tested a remarkable new cancer treatment.

Thirty-three patients with various types of advanced cancer were "guinea-pigs" in the first experimental phase of a promising drug developed by Newcastle scientists.

Yesterday, cancer experts declared that the first phase of the trial had been a success, paving the way for tests involving breast and ovarian cancer patients.

The announcement will be welcome news for thousands of cancer patients, although it will be many years before the drug could be licensed for widespread use.

The drug, called Parp inhibitors, was jointly developed by Newcastle scientists and the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK.

Scientists at the Northern Institute of Cancer Research, at Newcastle University, found the drug helped to reduce the size of tumours in five patients by up to 50 per cent.

Professor Herbie Newell told the National Cancer Research Institute annual conference, in Birmingham, that the results were extremely encouraging.

Professor Steve Jackson, who is leading a separate study at the Cancer Research UK laboratories at the University of Cambridge, said his trial was going according to plan, but it was too early to give results.

Cancer Research UK has now given the second stage of the trial the go-ahead.

Professor Alan Ashworth, of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, said he wanted to pay tribute to the altruism of North-East cancer patients who had agreed to take part in the first trial.

"These are people who have run out of therapy options, who are willing to go on a trial to help others," he said.

News of the breakthrough came a day after cancer sufferer Barbara Clark, from Bridgwater, Somerset, won a legal battle with her local health authority to be prescribed the cancer treatment, Herceptin, on the NHS.