New Lung Cancer Drug Developed for Chinese Specific Treatment

A form of Lung cancer that is particularly prevalent among Chinese people now has a treatment method. An international team of researchers have developed a new drug that specifically targets lung cancer prevalent among Chinese people.

The breakthrough drug was announced after researchers completed a study of 419 patients, 60 percent of whom came from Asia. The patients were selected after a screening of 1,000 people was conducted.

The new drug is particularly significant for Asians as they are more prone than Westerners to suffer from lung cancer caused by a particular type of gene mutation.

The new drug has already been approved by the Department of Health in Hong Kong. However, physicians feel it would take years before the drug becomes the popular choice for treatment due to its price. The drug costs about HK $40,000 per month or US$5,100 per month.

Lung cancer is the No 1 killer in China, including Hong Kong. There were 4,016 new cases of the disease and 3,893 deaths from it in the city in 2012.

Around 50 percent of Asians have lung cancer caused by the gene mutation, compared to 20 percent of Western patients.

Read the full article from the South China Morning Post here.


Posted

in

by

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.