BEIJING — Chinese researchers have developed a new drug that can inhibit the growth and spread of cancer stem cells.

Researchers from Wuhan and Shanghai announced that a molecular targeted synthetic drug called WYC-209 could kill or inhibit the proliferation of stem cells of melanoma and lung, ovarian, and breast cancers.

Through experiments on mice, researchers found that the drug can also prevent metastasis of lung cancer in 87.5 percent of cases.

The research, led by Wang Ning, professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Yu Biao, researcher at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published in the journal Nature Communications on April 11.

The cancer stem cell therapy is a current strategy for cancer treatment. Inhibiting cancer stem cells can decrease the chances of new tumors. Wang and Yu started cooperating on synthesizing the new drug in 2014.

According to researchers, animal experiments show that the new drug can treat malignant tumors with low toxicity.