A trial use of the notorious thalidomide drug to fight lung cancer is to be extended after promising results.

Ten out of 25 volunteer patients with small cell lung cancer, extremely aggressive and difficult to treat, survived more than a year taking thalidomide tablets daily - nearly twice the 21% survival rate for chemotherapy alone.

Now 400 patients will be recruited to see if thalidomide can fight some cancers using the very properties that led to appalling birth deformities more than 40 years ago, by limiting blood supply to developing limbs. Siow Ming Lee, of University College, London, and Middlesex hospital, believes the drug not only curbs the spread of cancer, but stimulates the immune system and helps chemotherapy to work. "Results have been encouraging," Dr Lee said.

The new trial, to begin next month, will test thalidomide plus chemotherapy against chemotherapy alone. It will run nationwide and be funded by Cancer Research; patients interested should contact their doctor.

Small cell accounts for a quarter of 38,800 cases of lung cancer detected each year.