Gastric Cancer in China: Physician and Payer Perspectives on Optimizing Market Access for Premium-Priced Treatment | Physician & Payer Forum | China | 2014
Gastric cancer (GC) is a major public health burden in China and is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country. Although chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment, prescribing of targeted therapies for advanced and metastatic GC cases has increased, including off-label use of Simcere Medgenn’s Endostar (endostatin) and Merck KGaA’s Erbitux (cetuximab). In October, 2012, the CFDA approved Roche’s Herceptin (trastuzumab) for HER2 positive metastatic GC, an event that may be a watershed for the treatment of GC in China. Despite the recent setback of GlaxoSmithKline’s Tykerb (lapatinib) and Novartis’s Afinitor (everolimus) in Phase III clinical trials for metastatic GC, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine’s apatinib (YN968D1) is positioned to launch in China in 2014 and will further increase the competition in the market.
