The most effective way for Chinese pharmaceutical companies to fight cancer is to strengthen independent research and development

It's not an exaggeration to talk about cancer discoloration Behind this, on the one hand, some families have to accept the cruel reality that their relatives have left because they can't bear the high cost of drugs; on the other hand, it promotes the development of new technologies and new drugs, which bring forward the hope of moving forward and jointly solve the cancer problem A number of industry insiders said that although it is true that imported drugs are expensive and poorly accessible, China is in a critical period of tumor drug research and development, indicating that innovative drug research and development is maturing, whether in terms of talent, capital, policy or market demand However, pharmaceutical companies, which are charged with the task of Chinese anti-cancer, still have a long way to go At present, the most effective way is to continue to increase independent research and development There are also high prices of original research drugs in Europe and the United States In fact, due to multiple factors such as high R & D costs, the "sky high price" of imported targeted anti-cancer drugs has deterred many cancer patients Dr Kelin Tiao, bone tumor department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat sen University, told reporters that, taking the chemotherapy drugs for osteosarcoma as an example, the first-line chemotherapy drugs in NCCN guidelines basically have domestic preparations within the scope of medical insurance, and the proportion of reimbursement for medical insurance is generally 40% or more After verification of each cycle of chemotherapy and medical insurance, the patients need to pay about 5000 to 15000 yuan by themselves If they choose new drugs at their own expense or at their own expense For second-line drugs, the cost of each cycle of chemotherapy needs to be increased by about 20000-40000 yuan For 12-16 cycles of conventional chemotherapy, the cost difference is about 200000-400000 yuan "More than 80% of patients will accept chemotherapy drugs within the scope of medical insurance based on economic considerations, and only a small number of patients who are financially well-off or because of the disease need to choose second-line or new and efficient anti-tumor drugs." Currently, the proportion of medical insurance reimbursement is higher and higher, but there are still some imported drugs and domestic new drugs that need to pay their own expenses, Lin said Some patients with drug resistance or ineffective use of first-line drugs will be considered According to the report "responding to cancer challenges with drug innovation" released by rdpac in 2017, the cost of lung cancer and gastric cancer treatment per capita in Chinese cities and towns is up to 9900 US dollars China spends an average of $8500 a year on household expenses "What are these numbers? The burden is enormous " Wu Yilong, a well-known lung cancer treatment expert and vice president of the people's Hospital of Guangdong Province, also spoke frankly at the press conference of the report According to statistics, in terms of the whole country, the average annual expenditure of a family is 8500 US dollars If someone has lung cancer, it means that the total expenditure of the family in a year is gone Wang Shun, a deputy general manager and chief medical officer of shengnuo, an overseas medical intermediary, said frankly that because the success rate of new drug research and development is too low, and the R & D investment is very large, and the original research drug (original new drug) will face price cut after the expiration of the patent period, the pharmaceutical enterprises will account both profits and costs into the drug price "In fact, even in Europe and the United States, the price of the original research drug is also very high It is not only China that has this problem." Wang Shun pointed out that, in fact, there are differences in cancer A certain drug does not necessarily apply to all patients The instructions are only guidance, but more need to follow the doctor's orders and be further judged by the clinicians It is worth noting that the price of some imported drugs, especially the original research drugs that have passed the patent period, has been high for a long time, and many prices are far higher than those of neighboring countries In order to solve the problem of expensive and difficult drug use for common people, the state has issued a number of policies to promote the price reduction of (imported) drugs, including the realization of zero tax rate for anti-cancer drugs According to the news from the national health and Health Commission, since May, three measures have been taken to reduce the price of anti-cancer drugs: Zero Tariff for imported drugs; centralized price negotiation and purchase by the government for anti-cancer drugs included in the medical insurance; and access negotiation for anti-cancer drugs not included in the medical insurance The reporter of "daily economic news" combed the data of drug purchase platforms in some provinces and found that the price of some imported drugs was loose On July 4, Shaanxi drug purchase platform released a message that according to the application of the enterprise, the purchase price of Xi'an YANGSEN original research drug Dake (injection land, 50mg) was adjusted from 10339 yuan / bottle to 4996 yuan / bottle, a decrease of 51.7% Coincidentally, Pfizer has applied for price reduction of some products in Hubei Province and Gansu Province Another good phenomenon is that the research and development of cancer drugs in China is showing an unprecedented upsurge, and the number of clinical trials has risen in a straight line, surpassing that in the UK As of the end of 2017, there are more than 450 cancer clinical trials related to new molecular entity drugs (NMES) in China, including nearly 60 PD-1 / L1 related immunooncology trials (Note: the above does not include unregistered and preclinical clinical trials) As of October 23, 2017, 121 car-t studies are under way in China "It's really a big difference Now the voice of CrO (drug contract organization) is quite different from that of the previous two years." White yuezong, director of strategy and market of thingdi, said that the R & D environment is good and they are all working hard For the same disease, there will be multiple enterprises competing for R & D For example, there are dozens of enterprises applying for PD-1 / L1, and more than 10 are actually doing it Cro organizations will also select projects with higher success rate According to the data, the clinical trials of cancer in China are far lower than those in the United States According to the statistics of American clinical trial database, as of January 2018, there were about 33407 cancer-related clinical trials and studies in China, while the number of clinical trials in the United States has exceeded 110000, more than three times that in China Wang Shun also said that with the introduction of new drugs and new therapies, the gap between China's cancer prevention and control and developed countries is constantly narrowing, and domestic pharmaceutical enterprises need to continue to refuel on the way of anti-cancer research and development However, in addition to drug research and development, there needs to be more supporting progress in diagnosis and treatment programs and insurance.