Medical scientists in southwest China's Guizhou Province have made initial progress in extracting anti-tumor substances from the leaves and fruit of the camttotheca acuminata, a tree native to Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.

This experiment began in the late 1980s and conducted by the China Medicine University and headed by its vice-president, You Qidong.

You Qidong and his colleagues now have converted campotothecan (CPC), a compound proved effective for cancer of the rectum and liver and leukemia, into hydroxy camptothecane. The Hanfang Pharmaceutical Group in Guizhou has agreed to cooperate with You to produce hydroxy camptothecane on a trial basis.

A new generation product, topotecan (PTT), is now being undergoing clinical tests, and the local government plans to build scores of pharmaceutical factories to produce medicine with camttotheca acuminata as the raw material, You said.