Poppy help for cancer drug

Scientists from the University of York have found a chemical in opium poppies, which could help in producing cancer drugs.

The plant makes a chemical called noscapine, which is already used in cough medicine. Noscapine is being tested as an anti-cancer drug in early clinical trials. The way in which opium poppies produce it is controlled by genes encoding a range of enzymes, and because scientists now understand how it makes so much could help in the commercial production of the chemical and subsequently drugs.