By Sophie Hares

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sun-worshippers may be able to get that bronze tan without baking for hours in potentially lethal rays, and fight skin cancer at the same time, if a new drug implant hits the market in few years time.

Designed to allow sun-free tanning and help prevent skin cancer, implants using the drug melanotan are being developed by a biotech firm in sunny Australia, which has the world's highest rate of skin cancer.

Dubbed the "Barbie Drug," melanotan stimulates the production of the melanin pigment in the skin that causes a tan and helps prevent damage from potentially cancer-causing rays.

"The melanin in the skin is your internal sunscreen, it has a protective rating," said Wayne Millen, chief executive of Melbourne-based EpiTan Ltd, which is developing the drug.

"This is another bullet to fire in the war against skin cancer," Millen told Reuters on Thursday.

Developing the drug for medical use, EpiTan expects melanotan to be ready for sale by 2005.

But melanotan is likely to be eagerly sought by people more interested in its ability to produce a much coveted sunkissed look rather than any cancer-preventing properties.

A new phase of human clinical trials is due to begin within the next few weeks after earlier tests saw white-haired dogs and green frogs turn jet black when they were injected with the drug.

Users will eventually be able to have a matchstick-sized capsule implanted under the skin by a dermatologist to promote a summer-long glow and help prevent the dangerous side effects of suntanning, Millen said.

EpiTan is collaborating with the Southern Research Institute in Alabama and is considering a tie-up with a big pharmaceutical firm to distribute melanotan when it is ready for commercial use.

Around 1,000 Australians die each year from melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

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