BEIJING, -- The world's first approved targeted medicine for non-small cell
lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, was launched in China over the
weekend, company officials announced in Shanghai over the weekend.
Sold by Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Ltd in China, Tarceva was approved
for use in China last year, following approval in the United States in 2004 and
the European Union in 2005. The drug is approved for use in patients for whom
standard chemotherapy has failed to stop the cancer.
Targeted therapy refers to a drug that targets a specific pathway in the
growth of a tumor. By attacking or blocking these critical targets, the therapy
can cripple the cancer while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
In clinical trials involving 731 lung cancer patients in 17 countries, 31
percent of patients survived at one year after receiving Tarceva compared with
21 percent who survived at one year when given an inactive substance, a placebo.
If lung cancer is discovered and treated early with standard first-line
therapies, about 70 percent of patients can survive for five years or more, said
Dr Wu Yilong, a member of China Anti-cancer Association's lung cancer branch.
"Since 70 percent of lung cancer cases are found at the terminal stage, only 15
to 35 percent of patients live for one year."
Lung cancer, the most common cancer, strikes 1.2 million people worldwide,
killing 1.1 million people each year. About 80 percent of lung cancer is
non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC.
(Source: China Daily)
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