China has developed an gene therapy for cancer, the world's first officially licensed "gene therapy".

Terminally ill cancer patients from Europe and America are traveling to China for treatment with a revolutionary anti-tumor drug, which is the world's first officially licensed "gene therapy", crienglish.com reported Sunday.

The drug works by inserting a gene, called p53, into a virus, which is then injected into patients. The gene is naturally present in healthy cells but is "switched off" or mutated in many cancer patients.

When reinserted into tumor cells by the virus, it triggers their self-destruction, and programs cancer cells to commit suicide.

The Chinese government approved the manufacture and use of the drug at the end of last year after clinical trials found that it markedly improved the survival rate for patients with cancer of the head and neck.

Doctors are now extending the treatment, named Gendicine, to patients with lung and stomach cancer.     

(CRI July 5, 2004)