Hailed Monday as the ``first drug created in Hong Kong,'' it took a three-member research team three years to develop at a cost of around HK$30 million.

The new drug, created by Thomas Leung, Thomas Lo and Paul Cheng, may lengthen the average life expectancy of liver cancer patients to 10 months from six now, Leung said.

Clinical trials of the drug, called BCT-100, after a company that funded the project, will begin by the end of this month.

University president Poon Chung-kwong said the drug marks a cornerstone for the development of bio-chemistry in Hong Kong.

The university also announced that the drug won two awards at the 33rd International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products of Geneva recently.

Liver cancer affects about 1,500 people a year in the territory. More than 1,400 people die of the cancer each year in the SAR, according to the Department of Health.

Leung and the two other scientists used an edible bacterium, called bacillus subtilis, to create an enzyme that can slow the proliferation of liver cancer cells. Pre-clinical studies on monkeys showed the enzyme can degrade an amino acid, called arginine.

While arginine, one of the 20 common natural amino acids, is vital for cancer cells to survive, its depletion will not affect normal cells as they are able to reproduce it, Leung said.

He said the new drug is relatively safer than other drugs because it is made out of a natural enzyme instead of the deadly E Coli bacteria, commonly used in drug research.

During a trial on two terminally ill patients, one patient's condition improved significantly after seven injections and neither of the patients suffered any side-effects. The second patient's condition fluctuated, Leung said.

He said even if the drug has an effect on only half of the cancer patients tested in future, it will bring new hope to liver cancer patients in the SAR and mainland.

Leung estimates there are about 260,000 liver cancer sufferers in the mainland.

Leung said a two-phase clinical trial, due to start by the end of this month, will be conducted at the Queen Mary Hospital on about 30 patients to establish the optimal dosage and garner data on its effectiveness.

The University of Hong Kong's Center for the Study of Liver Diseases will participate in the trials, he said.

The center will carry out further trials on mice.

dennis.chong@singtaonewscorp.com