Struggling research firm British Biotech has announced its ill-fated Marimastat cancer drug could come back from the dead.

Two months ago, the company, based in Garsington Road, Cowley, said it expected to terminate the development of the drug after five years of disappointing results.

This week, however, it said that although one of two remaining trials would end as planned, another on patients with pancreatic cancer was worth continuing.

The firm added that a very small percentage of patients who had taken Marimastat for gastric cancer in a previous apparently unsuccessful trial had survived against expectations.

Chief executive Elliot Goldstein said: "The pancreatic cancer trial continues because we cannot rule out some potential benefit of Marimastat in this setting.

"However, it is not possible, at this stage, to reach any conclusions about the eventual outcome of the trial." He said it would be unethical to stop the trial. Re-examination of another "failed" trial showed it did have a significant benefit for gastric cancer patients.

Patients who took the drug were three times as likely to be alive two years after the study originally finished, and for certain groups the benefit was even greater, he added.

Mr Goldstein said it was possible that the gastric cancer data might be strong enough to enable the firm to apply for permission to marketing the drug. It is more likely that Schering-Plough, British Biotech's development partner, will pay for another trial to back up the findings.

Marimastat, originally regarded as potential blockbuster, has had a troubled history since it was first tested in 1995. In 1998, the sacked head of clinical research, Dr Andrew Millar, publicly claimed the drug was unlikely to work.

British Biotech's stock has plummeted since an all-time high of 301p in 1996.

Shares edged up after the latest announcement, rising 1p to 20p.