Drug researchers under increasing pressure

The rising number of new cancer cases and deaths in China during the past decade is placing a greater burden on medical researchers.

The latest statistics released by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences show that in 2015 there were 4.29 million new cancer cases, accounting for 20 percent of the global total.

In the same year, 2.81 million people in China died from the disease. Lung cancer was the most common cause of death, followed in order by cancers of the stomach, esophagus and liver, according to the academy.

Shen Lin, vice-president at the Beijing Cancer Hospital, outlined some of the challenges in the field of drug research and development.

“Some kinds of cancer have a high incidence in China, but not in Western countries. Very little research has been conducted globally into drugs to target these cancers. For example, a lack of specific new drugs means that more than half of the patients who die from gastrointestinal cancer every year are from China,” said Shen, quoted by Southern Weekly.

In 2015, the five-year survival rate of cancer patients in China was 36.9 percent, while in the United States it had reached 70 percent three years earlier, according to a report released last year by the R&D-based Pharmaceutical Association Committee.

Meanwhile, the latest report by IMS Health, a US company that provides information and services for the healthcare industry, shows that the availability of new drugs in China lags far behind that in developed countries.

From 2010 to 2014, just six new drugs were available in China, even though 49 were approved globally during the same period.

“Because the domestic environment for pharmaceutical R&D is better than in days gone by, the biomedical industry has ushered in explosive growth for a number of companies, and many are competing to conduct research into treatments for the same types of cancer,” Shen said.

She added that fierce competition may result in lower levels of refinement in research, which could cause the failure rate to rise, and a lack of good guidance may lead to a disordered market.

“Comprehensive therapy, screening, early detection and treatment help to ease the burden on cancer patients. Curing patients or prolonging the duration of survival to improve the quality of life remains the primary task in the field of cancer prevention and control,” she said.