Novartis AG, one of the world's leading cancer R&D companies, has shifted its focus on using the body's immune system to battle tumors. As many as 22 oncology drugs from Novartis are currently available in the market to treat cancers, ranging from breast cancer to leukemia. The company is also developing 25 other treatments for cancer.

A research group having expertise in the field of immuno-oncology has been recently launched by the drug manufacturer. The Swiss company has hired an internationally known cancer vaccine authority, Dr. Glenn Dranoff, to lead the group. The aim is to focus on three distinct therapeutic areas and figure out how they can be combined with existing cancer drugs.

"This is a huge field that's just beginning. We're trying to educate the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign. Our goal is to cure cancer", said Mark C. Fishman, president of the Novartis Institutes and the company's global research chief.

Immuno therapies have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers over the past two and a half years after scientists at the University of Pennsylvania made it possible to reprogram the immune system to fight with cancer cells in about a dozen leukemia patients. Some of the patients saw complete remissions.

Novartis and UPenn jointly developed a drug that yielded great results by ensuring early safety study on patients with solid tumors. The results of the study were discussed last weekend at a meeting of the American Association of Cancer Researchers.

Novartis is endeavoring to find ways to get rid of tumors with therapies based on stimulation of the immune cells, said Dr. Keith Flaherty, a melanoma specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The technique is in early stages and requires a lot of efforts to make it a success.