Launching a two-pronged attack on cancer’s ability to safeguard its DNA could offer an effective new way of treating the disease, a new study reports.

A tiny molecule of RNA – known as ‘microRNA’ – plays a key role in ‘rewiring’ cancer cells so they can resist the effects of chemotherapy, a new study reveals. The discovery opens up the possibility of creating new cancer drugs that target this microRNA molecule, rather than more conventional treatments that block the action of proteins.

Despite increasing numbers of cancer drugs being licensed, an analysis has found that highly innovative drugs took longer to reach NHS patients than more conventional treatments.