The Price of Anti-cancer Drugs will Continue to Drop in China
"As of October this year, according to the statistics of the China Food and Drug Administration, we can see that there are 825 clinical laboratory institutions in China, of which 346 deal with clinical trials of anti-tumor drugs. But it’s hard to imagine that in the 1980s, there were only two cancer drug bases in China."
On October 13, at the "Translational Medicine and Precision Medicine" session of the 8th U.S.-China Health Summit, Shi Yuankai, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Science Cancer Hospital, introduced clinical research on new original anti-cancer drugs in China and pointed out that more and more effective original cancer drugs have been recognized in the world, and the price of anti-cancer drugs will continue to drop.
SHI Yuankai,
Vice President, Chinese Academy of Medical Science Cancer Hospital, National Lab for Cancer Clinical Trials
"Current Status and Prospects of Clinical Research on New Cancer Drugs in China"
How to Extend Patients Lifeline
"In the 1970s, if a patient with lung adenocarcinoma could neither receive a surgery nor radiotherapy, there wouldn't be much time for him to survive. But now, antineoplastic drugs can help extend patients’ life."
Shi said that if the patient was suitable for immunotherapy, he could survive for a while with PD-1 inhibitor. So now a patient with advanced lung adenocarcinoma can live for 4 to 5 years, or even longer. Therefore, more and more patients can benefit from increasingly effective anti-tumor drugs. For China at the moment, this is also the biggest research and development driving force in the entire drug field.
There will be More Original Drugs Coming to the Market
"At the end of this year or the first half of next year, at least 3 to 5 new state first-class drugs will be approved to come into the market." Shi Yuankai indicated that these high-efficiency original drugs’ appearance on the market is the capital and confidence for China to negotiate about imported drugs.
Recently, the National Medical Insurance Bureau issued 17 kinds of anti-cancer drugs into the medical insurance reimbursement record. The entire drug price reduction has reached more than 50%. “With the continuous appearance of Chinese original drugs in the market, our drug prices will drop even more.”
