Bhubaneswar: Odia scientist Sandip Kumar Mishra, who works with the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), under the department of biotechnology, claimed to have made a breakthrough in finding a cure to breast cancer.

Mishra told The Telegraph: "Talks are on with the All Indian Institute of Medical Science (Bhubaneswar) to experiment his findings on a clinical trial. It may take three months, as prior to that we have to take the permissions of the ethical committee of AIIMS, Union government and the ILS."

Mishra said he had talked to a number of oncologists of the state as well from abroad about his findings and all of them were quite upbeat about it. Prior to joining the ILS, Mishra was working as the faculty at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, in Houston, Texas.

About his drug, the scientist said: "I, along with my team, have developed the drug called Artemisinin from Estrogen Related Receptor beta (ERRß) molecule and leaves and flowers of sweet wormwood plant (botanical name - Artemisia annua) claiming it to be successful in curing the breast cancer patients."

He proved that the cancer cells migration and invasion could be restricted and controlled by Artemisinin in estrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer cells.

Citing the reason for the alarming rise of breast cancer, he said: "Non-feeding by the mother to the children is one of the reasons for the rise in breast cancer cases. At least a mother should feed her child for one-and-a-half years. Besides, the current environment and change in lifestyle are also other reasons for the rise in breast cancer cases."

Mishra's findings has also been published as a major research finding in the British Journal of Cancer. This discovery, according to Mishra, could open a new direction for therapy to challenge breast cancer, which is one of dreaded diseases all over the world.