Cancer Research UK has announced that it is carrying out clinical research to test AstraZeneca's AZD4547 drug.
It will be tested alongside standard chemotherapy in a bid to treat a selection of patients with advanced stomach or oesophageal cancer. The move is the first study launched via the ECMC Combinations Alliance, which was incepted last year.
The phase lb/lla clinical trial will be spearheaded from Glasgow Cancer Research UK's clinical trials unit at the West of Scotland Cancer Centre and the Scottish Health Department's Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre.
Dr Ian Walker, head of alliance management at Cancer Research UK’s DDO, said: "The alliance enables UK patients to take part in important clinical trials of potential new treatment approaches."
The organisation's latest clinical trial comes after it co-ordinated a study alongside experts at the National Institute for Health Research Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre.
The work found that counting the number of cancer cells in blood samples taken prior to and after treatment for advanced neuroendocrine tumours could give insight into patients' progress.