The Chinese University of Hong Kong's (CUHK) Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases yesterday announced that it has identified two plant-derived compounds that can be developed into new medicines that can cure both avian flu and human flu.

The new finding was announced at the naming ceremony of the centre yesterday.

Currently the choice of anti-flu medicines is rather limited, such as the most common Tamiflu.

Also, increasing use of the anti-flu medicines will cause drug-resistance, which further limits the therapeutic choice for patients, the study said.

In the series of studies to search for potential new anti-flu medicines, the centre has identified two plant-derived compounds that are effective in inhibiting the replication of human and avian influenza viruses.

New medicines made of the two compounds, 1-21-1-1 and PYF1M2, will hope to decrease the number of virus as much as 90 per cent, the researchers claimed.

It has been estimated that the compounds can be put to clinical trials on human in two to three years.

A study by the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases also shows that diagnosis and antiviral treatment within the first two days of symptom can reduce patients' length of stay at hospital to one-third.

To understand clinical diagnosis and management on human influenza, a study was conducted by the centre at the Prince of Wales Hospital on 356 patients from 2004 to 2005.

The study reveals on average patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes and kidney failure who have severe influenza, have to stay for 10 days at hospital.

But early diagnosis and treatment within the first two days of symptoms can reduce 33 per cent of the length of stay. This means those patients can be discharged from hospital in three to four days.

Meanwhile, the CUHK yesterday officially opened the first State Key Laboratory in Oncology in South China, which was approved by the central government last month.

Partnering with Sun Yat-sen University on long-term oncology research collaboration, it is a national scientific research centre focusing especially in cancers of high prevalence in Asia such as nasopharyngeal and lung cancers.

Located at the Sir YK Pao Centre for Cancer of the Prince of Wales Hospital, the laboratory has around 200 researchers.

"The laboratory is a one-stop cancer research centre that can combine basic research and clinical solutions for cancer patients in Hong Kong," said Anthony Chan, CUHK's professor of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine at a press conference yesterday.

Currently the centre is doing researches on a different treatment method for patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, he said.

The centre has started a Hong Kong-wide study on nasopharyngeal in six hospitals for two months. As many as 1,500 patients will be invited to take part in the study in three years, he said.

In the study, blood of the patients would be tested after they have radiotherapy, then they would have a risk stratification according to the blood test result, he said

The blood test could guide their treatment on patients, which in long-term could provide an individualized therapy for each patient, he said.

The CUHK would inject HK$28.5 million in laboratory projects in five years, he said.

York Chow, Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, was present at the opening ceremony of the laboratory yesterday.