US grants spur Chinese University's herbal anti-cancer research

Chinese University academics are working to develop herbal-based treatments for cancer and bowel disease under grants from the United States' National Institutes of Health - a first for Hong Kong.

Leung Ping-chung, director of Chinese University's Centre for Clinical Trials on Chinese Medicine, said the two projects to develop drugs based on traditional Chinese medicine were being undertaken in partnership with US and Asian universities.

Chinese University formed a consortium last September with Harvard University and Beijing University 'to look for anti-cancer drugs with the direction of developing patient trials', Professor Leung said. The consortium had so far identified 43 herbal medicines with potential anti-cancer properties, he said.

The second project, in partnership with Maryland University and Chicago University, was studying herbal-based treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, 'a disease where modern medicine could not yet claim success', he said.

The team had until the end of the year to complete the first phase of the two projects.

Whether they could proceed further would depend on securing a second round of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the US federal health organisation.