University of Hong Kong plans cell culture lab to help nose cancer patients

The University of Hong Kong medical school is hoping the Hospital Authority will approve its plan to construct a HK$13 million cell culture lab at a hospital in the city so the cost of immunotherapy can be brought down for sufferers of nose cancer.

Immunotherapy requires the extraction of T-cells - a type of white blood cell - from cancer patients. The cells are then stimulated and grown in labs before being injected back into patients to fight malignant cells.

But since the blood containing the T-cells has to be sent overseas for processing, the cost of treatment can reach HK$40,000 per patient. To halve the cost and shorten transportation time, the medical school wants to build a 1,500 square foot lab at a hospital in Hong Kong to process the blood.

HKU department of clinical oncology professor Dora Kwong Lai-wan said: "We think there is a service gap in Hong Kong for cellular therapy. At present in Hong Kong, there are no accredited facilities to produce [the cells] for the therapy.

"We want to establish a facility in Hong Kong that will make the production more efficient and more cost-effective. Also, we can reduce the risk involved in transporting the blood products."

Expressing hope the Hospital Authority would approve the university's plan, Kwong said: "We are not asking for much … Just a couple of rooms for tissue culture and storage. Of course, it has to be a clean space for the safe production of cells."