THE makers of a new cancer medicine say they have created a single drug which destroys melanomas in animal test subjects.

US-Australian drug discovery company Novogen announced its new drug candidate, Anisina, had proven effective in killing the potentially fatal cancer strain in mice.

Now researchers are talking about moving into human trials.

Program director Dr Justine Stehn said if taken in combination with another drug, Vincristine, the new Anisina medicine increased its anti-cancer potency 20 times over.

She said it had also proven effective without being combined with any other anti-cancer chemicals.

Novogen CEO Graham Kelly said the company was almost ready to start testing Anisina on humans.

"Each step in the drug development process continues to build our confidence in the potential for this exciting first-in-class drug," he said.