Cancer patients in the region will benefit from better access to experimental treatments thanks to a new network of Government-funded cancer research centres.

At the moment most experimental cancer drugs are tried out in centres in the South-East.

This means patients in the North-East and North Yorkshire who have failed to respond to conventional cancer treatments often find it difficult to take part in early clinical trials of the newest treatments.

But the Government has decided to pump an extra £11m into existing centres of excellence around the country, including Newcastle.

By investing in drug development centres which are already up and running, the Department of Health hopes it will widen the availability of these trials.

Some of the most promising work in the field of new cancer drugs is being done at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University.

Professor Herbie Newell, whose work at the Newcastle centre is funded by the Cancer Research Campaign, recently told an international conference in Miami of his vision for the future.

"For the first time we are starting to see a new generation of drugs coming into clinical trials which target the cancer cell at molecular level."

The drug expert said he was "confident" that the new drugs being developed at Newcastle will be much more effective than current treatments.

The National Translational Cancer Research Network (NTRAC) will incorporate eight existing centres of scientific and clinical research.

The Network will receive £11.16 million over five years to enable the sharing of facilities, skills and ideas.

The member centres, which were selected by the Department of Health in partnership with the cancer research charities and industry, are Birmingham, Leeds, Oxford, Newcastle, Southampton, The Royal Marsden, Imperial College London and University College London.

Announcing the new network Health Minister Yvette Cooper said: "There is a real need to speed up the processes by which laboratory-based research becomes new drugs and treatments which will benefit cancer patients.

By enabling closer co-ordination between these eight centres of scientific and clinical excellence, the new network will minimise duplication and ensure improvements reach the front-line as efficiently as possible."