The British charity Cancer Research UK said last week that early trials will be carried out of an experimental anti-cancer drug by Germany’s Merck KGaA.

The drug is known as DI-B4 and it will be the fourth anti-cancer drug in the charity’s clinical development partnerships project.

This is a deal which permits the companies to retain the rights to a treatment during the process of the charity carrying out early tests.

In the year 2006 the program was launched to increase the number of potential treatments by taking molecules from drug firms and adding them to the clinical trials.

The Cancer Research Technology (CRT), which is the charity’s development and commercialization arm, will carry out this work.

The charity said in a statement that the drug will be taken to phase I trial in around 20-40 patients with advanced B-cell lymphoma in many, in many British hospitals the charity said in a statement.

B-cell lymphoma is a cancer of the white blood cell.

Keith Blundy, chief executive of CRT, "In an increasingly competitive market place, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have to focus strategically on certain areas of research and hold back on others. This deal demonstrates how we can work together to progress cancer drugs."