Virotherapy: skin cancer successfully treated with herpes-based drug

'Virotherapy' uses modified herpes virus to attack melanoma cells and has potential to overcome cancer even when disease has spread throughout the body

Patients with aggressive skin cancer have been treated successfully using a drug based on the herpes virus, in a trial that could pave the way for a new generation of cancer treatments.

The findings mark the first positive phase 3 trial results for cancer "virotherapy", where one disease is harnessed and used to attack another. If approved, the drug, called T-VEC, could be more widely available for cancer patients by next year, scientists predicted.