Maltese-born doctor Johann de Bono is being credited for spearheading research into a new drug to fight the deadliest forms of prostate cancer.

The drug could put thousands of men into remission, allowing them to work and travel as before and potentially save lives, the head of a worldwide clinical trial has announced.

Dr de Bono was lead researcher of trials at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.

Trials of the drug, Abiraterone, are still at an early stage but results have been very promising and there is hope it may be widely available within three years, the British media reported today.

So far 250 men have been treated with the drug worldwide and a global trial of 1,200 is under way which researchers hope will be followed by rapid licensing. They hope to see it the drug available by 2011.

John Neate, chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Charity told The Guardian that the new drug was "an exciting development, which has been eagerly anticipated. Early trial results of Abiraterone potentially represent the first significant advance in drug treatment of prostate cancer for some time."

Professor Malcolm Mason, Cancer Research UK's prostate cancer expert, said although the early results were extremely exciting "there's a lot more work needed to establish what Abiraterone's place will be in treating men with prostate cancer."