The clubbing drug ecstasy could be used to treat some forms of cancer, new research suggests.

Modified forms of the drug may be effective against blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma, a study has found.

Six years ago, scientists found that cancers affecting white blood cells appeared to respond to certain “psychotropic” drugs, including Prozac-type antidepressants, weight loss pills, and amphetamine derivatives such as MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy.

However there was a flaw in the plan – the dose of MDMA needed to treat tumour would prove fatal to the patient. To overcome this problem, scientists began working on isolating the properties in the drug which fight cancer.

Now, the same team of scientists, working at the University of Birmingham, believe they have achieved this.

Professor John Gordon, from the university’s School of Immunology and Infection, said: “This is an exciting next step towards using a modified form of MDMA to help people suffering from blood cancer. While we would not wish to give people false hope, the results of this research hold the potential for improvements in treatments in years to come.”

Further work could lead to MDMA-derivatives being used in patient trials. The findings were published in the journal Investigational New Drugs.