Taiwan will join six other nations that are participating in the third-stage clinical trial of a new drug to treat late-stage oral cancer, a leader of the program said Tuesday. Hao Sheng-po, president of the Asian Society of Head and Neck Oncology, said that the new drug is meant to work by stimulating the immune systems of patients, before resorting to treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It is hoped that the patients' own immune systems will suppress the growth of the cancer cells, he said. Orient Europharma Co., the agent for the U.S.-produced drug, said that in the second-stage clinical trials, the cancer cells in 12 percent of the patients disappeared completely. On average, the cancer cells in all the patients in the test group shrunk by 50 percent, the agent said. Follow-up tests showed that the patients survival rate increased by an average of 33 percent, it said. It will be the first large-scale trial that would prioritize immune therapy over other treatments. Eighty-eight patients in seven hospitals in Taiwan, including Shin Kong Wu Ho Su Memorial hospital, National Taiwan University Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Kaohsuung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, will take part in the third-phase trial of the new drug, representing 10 percent of the international test group. 