Construction on China's first center focusing on heavy-ion therapy for cancer patients has begun in Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu Province.

The Lanzhou Heavy-Ion Beam Cancer Treatment Center, covering 26.7 hectares, will be built at a cost of more than 1 billion yuan (147 million U.S. dollars) in three years, said Zhao Mantang, board chairman of the Shengda Group Ltd., a private firm in Gansu that has contracted to invest in and construct the center.

The Lanzhou Institute of Modern Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou municipal government and Shengda Group signed an agreement to jointly build the center in July last year.

The Lanzhou Institute of Modern Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou municipal government and Shengda Group signed an agreement to jointly build the center in July last year.[File photo]

Construction on the center began on Jan. 30 and is expected to be completed within three years, Zhao said Thursday.

Heavy ion beam is considered to be one of the most advanced and effective cancer treatments in the world. It is more accurate, and causes less damage to healthy tissue and have a higher cure rate than conventional radiotherapies.

China is the fourth nation to carry out clinical studies on tumor treatment using heavy-ion beam device, after the United States, Germany and Japan.

"China possesses completely independent intellectual property right on the cancer treatment equipment in the center, and the Lanzhou Institute of Modern Physics will offer core technologies in this regard," said Zhan Wenlong, vice president of CAS.

He said clinical trials on 109 volunteer patients by the academy over past years showed two to three months of heavy-ion beam treatment could, in most cases, completely eliminate detectable tumors.

More than 90 percent of the patients had no relapse in the following 18 months.

Zhan said the trials proved the therapy to be highly effective.

Thursday marks the World Cancer Day.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in China, where 2 million new cases are reported annually.

According to Gansu provincial health bureau, about 42,000 people die of cancer every year in the province, or 25 percent of the province's total deaths. More than 1 billion yuan is spent annually on treating cancer patient in the province.