A South Korean research team will begin clinical tests of a second generation target anti-cancer medication that is 30 to 100 times more effective than the current industry standard starting next spring.

Professor Kim Dong-wook of St Mary's hospital, affiliated with the Catholic University Medical College, said Thursday that the hospital would be the only one in Asia to take part in phase-two clinical trials of the new medication BMS-354825, manufactured by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AMN-107, manufactured by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. A total of 45 hospitals around the world will be taking part in the program.

In phase-one clinical tests, the two new medications have proven to be 30 to 100 times more effective than Gleevec, often cited as a miracle drug in the fight against chronic myelogenous leukemia, and 200 and one thousand times more effective than Gleevec in cancer-related research applications.

In addition, tests on some 120 patients who were Gleevec-resistant showed 86 percent of them had a significantly reduced number of cancer cells in their blood subsequent to the adminstering of the drugs.