Tainan, TAIWAN, Dec.2, 2008---Under the rising threat from deadly disease, cancer, Taiwan is faced with the rigorous challenges to develop new drugs or treatment strategy for curing cancers. Professor Tian-Shung Wu (吳天賞) of the Department of Chemistry of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has successfully isolated and synthesized a potent antineoplastic prodrug, antofine, by making use of organic chemistry to synthesize various phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids. Autofine is one of these alkaloids isolated from Cryptocarya chinensis and Ficus septica.