New targeted drug for lung cancer

  Recently, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German pharmaceutical giant Merck announced the launch of the lung cancer targeted drug Securitril (crizotinib), which is the first new drug launched after the global strategic alliance between Pfizer and Merck officially landed in China in August 2015. More Chinese patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer will benefit from the rollout of this drug.  Sequiritinib (crizotinib), the first mesenchymal lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor approved in the U.S., Europe, China and Japan, is the world’s first targeted therapy for the treatment of ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).  ”Within NSCLC, about 3 to 5 percent are ALK-positive patients who can directly benefit from this drug.” Guo Zhenxing, director of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Tsinghua University, told reporters that crizotinib is the first drug specifically designed to treat ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer, which can improve patients’ quality of life and extend survival. The treatment before the emergence of this drug could only rely on chemotherapy plus some tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which had a large number of side effects.  Currently, the drug is available at designated Pfizer Merck outlets. But experts also point out that Securitas is expensive for most patients. “Secretion costs about 50,000 yuan a month, and a year’s worth of medication costs more than 600,000 yuan.” Guo Zhenxing told reporters. Many targeted drugs will have charitable gift program, which will greatly reduce the burden of patients, the specific gift program including the number of gifts, gift range, etc. need to see the company’s indicators in various places.  It is reported that more than 20,000 patients around the world have been treated with Securicare and benefited exactly from the treatment, opening a new chapter of precision treatment and long-term survival of non-small cell lung cancer. The first round of this co-promotion has been conducted in the second and third quarter of 2015 in the United States, Canada, Japan and the five EU countries of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and the second round has been conducted in China and Turkey since January 1 of this year.