 File Photo 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. 2007-03-19
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