A PIONEERING cancer drug trialled in Southampton has been given the go-ahead to be used on lung cancer patients.

Currently patients with non-small cell lung cancer have few treatment options available but the launch of crizotinib now gives then an alternative.

Southampton was one of six centres where the drug was trialled and it has the potential to give better outcomes for people with this particular form of the disease.

It is an oral treatment for patients whose cancer has continued after initial chemotherapy.

Professor Dean Fennell said: “We know that we will be giving the right treatment to the right patient. Personalised medicines such as crizotinib represent the future of cancer treatment.”