The Comprehensive Cancer Trials Unit (CCTU) in Hong Kong is conducting new drug clinical studies in lung cancer and stomach cancer with National Cancer Institute (NCI) of America.

The CCTU announced on Friday at a press conference that the studies aim at relieving pain in patients and to boost up the curative effect of anti-cancer drugs. It is expected that the results will come out in about three years.

"Advances in anti-cancer drug development can only be achieved by well-designed clinical trials with active participation of cancer patients, who often are the first to benefit from these new forms of drug treatment," said Professor Anthony Tak-Cheung Chan, chairman of the Department of Clinical Oncology and Acting Director of the Hong Kong Cancer Institute.

The CCTU of the Faculty of Medicine of Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is the first and the only center in Hong Kong that was approved by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States in 2002 to conduct new NCI drug clinical studies, according to the CUHK.

With close partnership of the academia, industry, government and charitable organizations and utilizing state-of-the art clinical and research facilities in the Cancer Center, CCTU has completed 61 clinical trials in the past 10 years and currently has 32 ongoing trials in a wide range of cancers.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2004)