New anti-cancer vaccine developed by Czech lab

PRAGUE, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A new vaccine which may be capable of halting
cancer has been manufactured in the labs at the Prague Motol Hospital for a
year, local daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported Sunday.

The vaccine is useful in the fight against a number of tumors, and it does
not have any such side-effects as chemotherapy has, the daily cited a report
published by prestigious medical journal Clinical Immunology.

"Now we are drafting a request for clinical tests," Jirina Bartunkova, a
leading researcher, was quoted as saying.

The vaccine, which was developed by a unique method that the Czechs had
worked for ten years, can be used in the treatment of melanoma, leukemia, bowel
cancer, ovary cancer and recurring tumors, the paper wrote.

One vaccine is sufficient for one patient for a year, and the treatment
costs about 100,000 crowns (5,000 U.S. dollars) per year, Bartunkova said.

However, using the vaccine to cure patients is very demanding in terms of
time and equipment, and only one vaccine a week can be manufactured in the super
pure labs.

"We are able to produce some 50 vaccines a year. However, the research has
reached the stage in which the production of the vaccine can be made on a large
scale," Bartunkova said.

The research group is negotiating with a biotechnological firm on the
production of the vaccine, said the daily.