A SMALL Australian biotech company is set to launch an all-out war on Britain’s 8,000 solariums with a new drug that tans patients without exposing them to harmful ultraviolet rays.

Epitan, based in Melbourne, believes its drug, which is about to enter late-stage tests among volunteers at the Queen Mary hospital, University of London, will eventually put suntan salons out of business.

Iain Kirkwood, Epitan’s chief executive, said: “Recent studies indicate a link between the use of sunbeds and fatal skin cancers. To claim, as some solariums do in their marketing brochures, that sunbeds are good for the skin is an outright lie. The truth is that regular visits to a suntan salon significantly increase your chances of contracting the very worst type of skin cancer.”

Mr Kirkwood’s warnings are echoed in a World Health Organisation report, published last month, which called on governments to introduce new legislation banning access to sunbeds to those under 18.

The WHO also recommended that the number of tanning salons should be regulated and that personnel should be trained so that they can advise certain risky groups, such as people who freckle easily or have a large number of moles, not to sign up for treatments.

More than 100,000 cases of skin cancer are reported in Britain each year and about 2,000 deaths are linked to the disease.

Epitan’s drug works by encouraging the body to produce melanin, a pigment that protects the skin from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light. Melanin comes in two forms: a reddish-yellow pigment, commonly found in people with fair colouring that does little to protect the skin from burning; and a brown-black pigment, which is extremely effective in blocking out the harmful effects of the sun.

The company’s drug, called Melanotan, works by ordering skin cells to produce only the brown pigment. Patients testing an initial formulation in Australia, which suffers from one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, cut sunburn injuries in half without any harmful side effects.

Epitan’s scientists originally worked on the drug in an effort to come up with a protection against skin cancer. They also hope that regulators will approve the treatment for use in patients allergic to sunlight. But its main potential lies in its main side effect. Because Melanotan works by encouraging the body to produce melanin, the treatment is very effective in generating a pain-free tan.

With concerns mounting over the safety of tanning salons, the company believes that cosmetic surgeons might be persuaded to take up Melanotan as a “lifestyle drug”.

The drug will initially be available in injection form at a cost of about £105. The jab takes about a week to work and lasts for between 60 to 90 days. Mr Kirkwood is currently drumming up interest among City institutions for a share placing early next month.

The company, which is already listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, aims to raise about £15 million to fund final trials on Melanotan early next year. Provided it can demonstrate sufficient medical benefit for regulators to give approval, the injection should be available in late 2007.