Market Pattern of the Targeted Cancer Drugs Experienced Sudden Changes in China in 2017

China is a "big cancer country" with the population attacked by cancers ranking first in the world, which is a problem the Chinese patients and medical workers have to face. The cancer treatment mainly depended on traditional means such as chemotherapy for a long time in China, however, those traditional means have big side effects and offer limited help to the lives, treatment, and survival time of patients. The targeted cancer therapies have gained great development in recent years, countries including China are competing to lay out the targeted drugs, and China lags behind the European and American developed countries in terms of targeted drug layout, however, it has been catching up fast and obtained great progress in recent years.

According to the China Cancer Report 2017 of the National Cancer Center of China, the total number of Chinese cancer patients accounted for 40% of the total of the world, and there were up to 10,000 newly confirmed cancer patients every day. The cancer treatment level has been greatly improved in recent years owing to the introduction of the targeted drugs, for example, since the relevant targeted drug was first introduced to China in 2005, the five-year survival rate of the advanced lung cancer patients has increased from 8% to 18%, however, so far, the layout of targeted cancer drugs in China has been relatively lagging behind the Europe and America, and the cancer treatment level needs to be improved in China. It is reported that the five-year survival rate of all cancer types is less than 40% in China, while that already reached 70% in the U.S. early in 2012.

Table I An Overview of the Various Targeted Cancer Drugs Marketed in China

Table I summaries the various targeted cancer drugs marketed in China at present, from which, we can see that the number is not small and reaches dozens. Overall, the areas with the largest number of targeted drugs include lung cancer, leukemia, and renal carcinoma.

Table II shows the various targeted cancer drugs newly marketed in China in 2017. 2017 saw the approval of many targeted drugs in China, including osimertinib under AstraZeneca, afatinib under Boehringer Ingelheim, regorafenib under Bayer, ibrutinib under AbbVie, azacitidine under Celgene, vemurafenib under Roche, pazopanib under GSK, and ruxolitinib under Novartis. Among those drugs, osimertinib and afatinib, etc. are potential blockbuster drugs on the targeted drug market of China.

Table II Various Targeted Cancer Drugs Newly Marketed in China in 2017

According to an expert, the future targeted cancer drugs are quite worth expecting in China, which is not only based on the level of patient market recognition, but also the level of the Chinese government’s valuing of such drugs. The inclusion of the targeted cancer drugs such as icotinib, dasatinib, gefitinib, and imatinib into the national medical insurance catalog of China in 2017 shows the valuing of the targeted cancer drugs at the policy level.

It should be pointed out that there is still no targeted drug marketed for bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma) and soft tissue sarcoma in China, suggesting that the development of the targeted cancer drugs still has a long way to go in China. With the enormous advantages shown by the targeted cancer drugs in cancer treatment, we have reasons to believe that in the future, there will be more targeted cancer drugs marketed in China, and more excellent targeted drugs included in the medical insurance to benefit the broad Chinese cancer patients.

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