Medical Network April 17th According to data released by the National Cancer Center in 2014, the average five-year survival rate of all cancers in China is only 30.9%, while the United States has reached 66%. Data like this directly led some domestic cancer patients to seek treatment in developed countries such as the United States. The reason is: in those countries, the survival rate of cancer patients is much larger than in China. However, is this really the case? The home event of the National Cancer Prevention and Awareness Week in 2018 officially kicked off at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. At the academician forum held at the scene, Sun Yan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and He Jie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, all replied on the spot: "Foreign treatment is a misunderstanding. The level of common cancer treatment in China is not inferior to that of the United States."
Cancer can change the fate of a young person or even a family.
  ▲Source: People's Daily
According to data released by the National Cancer Center in 2014, the average five-year survival rate of all cancers in China is only 30.9%, while the United States has reached 66%.
Data like this directly led some domestic cancer patients to seek treatment in developed countries such as the United States. The reason is: in those countries, the survival rate of cancer patients is much larger than in China. However, is this really the case?
According to the Beijing Daily, April 15 is the first China Anti-Cancer Day. The main event of the National Cancer Prevention and Awareness Week in 2018 officially kicked off at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. At the academician forum held at the scene, Sun Yan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and He Jie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, all refuted the scene:
"Foreign treatment is a misunderstanding. The level of common cancer treatment in China is not inferior to that of the United States."
Screening diagnosis is the main cause
At the forum held on the 15th, Academician Cheng Shuzhen introduced that in 2014 there were 3.8 million new malignant tumors in China, and 7 people were diagnosed with cancer every minute. According to recent reports, major tumor occurrences and mortality rates in Western countries have begun to decline, while morbidity and mortality in China are still growing slowly, and this trend is expected to continue for some time. According to its introduction, the 5-year survival rate of cancer patients in China is currently around 30%, while that in developed countries has reached 70% to 80%.
Every Xiaobian noted that according to the “Analysis of the incidence and mortality of malignant tumors in China in 2014†issued by the National Cancer Center, the report shows:
Males under the age of 60 have the highest number of liver cancer deaths, and those aged 60 and over have the highest number of lung cancer deaths;
Women under the age of 30 have the highest number of liver cancer deaths, 30 to 44 years old have the highest number of breast cancer deaths; 45 years old and older have the largest number of lung cancer deaths.
Image source: Cai saw - Tencent Finance
According to statistics, overall, the incidence of malignant tumors in the 0-30 age group was low, and the incidence rate of people over 30 years old increased rapidly, reaching a peak in the 80-year-old group, and then decreased.
The People’s Daily Weibo has summarized the causes of cancer in young people:
According to the Beijing Morning Post, it is said that the five-year survival rate of cancer in China is less than half of that in developed countries. Academician Cheng Shuzhen, who has long been engaged in the study of the cause of cancer, that is, the mechanism of cancer, said that there are many reasons for this. The most important reason is that a large number of cancer patients in China are in the middle and late stage. When they are treated in hospital, the tumor has already metastasized and it is difficult to cure.
In addition, the incidence of cancer is slowly increasing in China. On the one hand, it is related to the growth of the overall life expectancy of the Chinese population and the arrival of an aging society. On the other hand, the pollution of the social environment and the small family environment has contributed to the increase in the incidence of some tumors; In addition, changes in people's lifestyles, eating habits, etc., such as long-term intake of excessively high-fat foods, may increase the likelihood of colon cancer tumors.
To this end, he reminded the public that one of the core issues of cancer prevention is to improve lifestyles and develop healthy diets and lifestyle habits.
According to the People’s Daily Weibo, when your body has the following signals, you have to be careful:
â–²Source: People's Daily Weibo
Common cancer treatment levels in China are not inferior to the United States
For some people with good economic conditions, the first choice for treatment in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, Academician Sun Yan and Academician He Jie said that it is a mistake to get cancer treatment in China.
"We Chinese have got cancer to go abroad for treatment. This is a misunderstanding. It is the patient's lack of understanding of China's cancer treatment technology." Sun Yan said that China has a high level of treatment for esophageal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and liver cancer. These tumors are relatively rare in Europe and the United States, and many doctors in head and neck surgery abroad have only seen a few patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. On the contrary, the clinical experience of Chinese doctors is more abundant. For example, in the treatment of esophageal cancer, some township hospitals in China can use the esophagoscope to do mucosal resection without opening the chest or cutting the esophagus.
"It is a big mistake for cancer patients to go to see a doctor abroad." He Jie said that many doctors' surgical procedures in China are higher than those in developed countries because of the rich clinical experience of Chinese doctors.
Lin Dongjun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also said: "In the field of cancer prevention and control, the experience of many developed countries can be used for reference, but some of them can be used. Many treatments, including the drugs used, are not applicable to the Chinese population. We must Have anti-cancer drugs and treatments developed by myself."
Every time Xiaobian noticed, in a report published in the 2014 China Youth Daily entitled "Cancer patients go overseas for medical treatment: it looks beautiful", it also proves the above-mentioned academician's argument from the side. The report said:
The gap in medical technology between China and the United States is not as big as people think. Pan Zhanhe, a cancer specialist at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Xiamen University, takes gastric cancer surgery as an example. European and American countries advocate D1 surgery with a small range of lymphatic dissection. China has a D2 operation with a larger range of lymphatic dissection. "In recent years, European and American countries have gradually recognized us. Method," he said.
"The difference between domestic and foreign is not very big for digestive tract cancer. For example, colorectal cancer, in each stage, the five-year survival rate of several large tumor hospitals in Beishangguang is not much different from that in Europe and America." From Peking University Cancer Hospital Zhang Xiaodong said.
For some patients with advanced cancer, expensive overseas medical treatment costs may not be able to get better results. Zhang Xiaodong still remembers that she had a friend who had cancer. I heard that Germany had a "specially advanced instrument" that could be used, and then it was transferred to Germany through an intermediary. In the end, after spending an intermediary fee of 100,000 yuan and a considerable amount of treatment costs, "the treatment opinions obtained are exactly the same as in China."
"In our country, sometimes the treatment of advanced cancer is inherently over-medical." Zhang Xiaodong explained, "And in foreign countries according to the medical treatment regulations, for advanced patients, doctors may announce the abandonment earlier."
There are also some cancers that may be more advanced in Europe than in Europe and the United States. "For example, lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma are more common in China. There are few cases in Europe and America, and there are few clinical data. It is difficult to conduct experiments on new treatment methods." Pan Zhanhe said.
China will impose zero tariff on imported anticancer drugs from May 1
On April 12, the Standing Committee of the State Council decided to reduce the import tariffs on all common drugs, including anticancer drugs, alkaloid drugs with anticancer effects, and Chinese patent medicines with actual imports, starting from May 1, 2018. To zero, and greatly reduce the VAT tax on the production and import of anticancer drugs.
For a long time, the prices of anticancer drugs, especially imported anticancer drugs, have remained high, which has caused many cancer patients to abandon treatment without taking medicine or returning to poverty due to illness.
In 2017, every time I edited Xiaobian, I experienced the economic burden of cancer on an ordinary family. Friends who did not have serious physical problems suddenly felt chest pain in March and went to the top three hospitals to check for breast cancer.
If there is no such accident, the life of a friend's family is still okay. After the surgery, the doctor suggested that she use a targeted drug called Herceptin to control the spread of cancer cells, but friends chose conservative treatment because of the cost.
At present, HER2-positive breast cancer mainly uses Herceptin-targeted drugs to inhibit the spread of cancer cells. The market price is more than 20,000 yuan each, and 14 courses are needed for one course of treatment. The total cost is nearly 300,000 yuan. Previously, even in the first-tier cities, nearly 80% of HER2-positive breast cancer patients did not receive Herceptin treatment, and the price factor was the biggest factor.
In October 2017, Herceptin was included in the national medical insurance drug list, excluding medical insurance reimbursement drug prices reduced by nearly 70%, and drug treatment costs reduced to about 100,000 yuan.
Why is the import of anticancer drugs expensive? On the one hand, because half of the current is exclusive, domestic companies do not produce. R&D costs, intellectual property patents, import duties and value-added taxes, and layers of circulation in the circulation sector have collectively led to high prices for imported anticancer drugs. This zero tariff and a significant reduction in value-added tax is an initiative to lower the price of medicine.
But from the data released by the National Cancer Center and authoritative organizations, China's cancer prevention still has a long way to go.
In 2015, the research and development of recombinant human HER2 monoclonal antibody drugs (treatment for breast cancer and gastric cancer) for Anke Bioinjection has made substantial progress. The relevant person in charge said that after the domestic preparations are marketed, the price will be much lower than that of imported preparations.
Ding Liming, the chairman of Beida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which is engaged in the research and development of innovative drugs in China, also calculated an account last year. Roche’s similar drug price is 1,600 yuan/box, 3 boxes per month, and the annual cost is more than 50,000 yuan. After reimbursement, you also need to bear a monthly fee of nearly 1,000 yuan. The longer you take the time, the greater the burden. After the reimbursement of Kemena medical insurance, the patient's expenses are less than 500 yuan per month, plus free drug donation, which greatly reduces the economic burden of patients.
This also means that if domestic pharmaceutical companies can increase the imitation of anti-cancer drugs, it can also bring the speed of domestic anti-cancer drugs.
As the saying goes, hitting iron still needs to be hard. However, from the data point of view, China's cancer clinical trial research is still far lower than the United States. According to the US Clinical Trial Database, as of January 2018, there were approximately 33,407 clinical trials related to cancer in China, and the number of clinical trials in the United States has exceeded 110,000, more than three times that of China.
With the introduction of new drugs and new therapies, the gap between cancer control and developed countries in China is shrinking, and domestic pharmaceutical companies need to continue to refuel on the road of anti-cancer research and development.