A truly soluble aspirin has been hailed as a "potential game-changer" for research into brain cancer.
Brain tumours are hard to treat with many conventional cancer drugs because they struggle to get across the blood-brain barrier, the charity Brain Tumour Research said.
But the new formulation of true liquid aspirin significantly increases the ability of drugs to cross this protective membrane, the charity said.
The solution, which combines reformulated aspirin with two additional ingredients, was created by Innovate Pharmaceuticals.
And researchers from the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Portsmouth have conducted a series of lab tests on glioblastoma cancer cells using the formula.
Their findings, which are to be presented to the Brain Tumours 2016 conference in Warsaw, Poland, suggest the solution could be "highly effective" against glioblastoma - the most aggressive form of brain tumour.
Sue Farrington Smith, chief executive of Brain Tumour Research, said: "This is a potential game-changer for research into brain tumours and clearly shows what sustainable research is able to achieve.
"It is science like this that will enable us to eventually find a cure for this devastating disease, which kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer."
The charity said the drug will now be further developed in pre-clinical models and more research is needed before it is known whether it is suitable for patients in clinical trials.
