200,000 is not expensive? 'Broad-spectrum anticancer drug' has been approved for domestic marketing, and the pro-testers have been living normally for 3 years

200,000 per month, cancer cells "remission" in half a month? The recent approval of China's first broad-spectrum anticancer drug has sparked heated discussions among netizens.

An 81-year-old patient was diagnosed with a rare pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma. After multiple adjuvant therapy adjustments after surgery, the condition was still unrelieved, and new liver metastases occurred, and SEL1L-NTRK1 fusion was found. Mutation, I thought he was old and his condition was deteriorating, he might not have long survival time, but after taking larottinib twice a day for more than 200,000 a month, his condition was relieved, and imaging remission after 13 months The effect is good, and there are no other adverse reactions.

Xu Weifeng, a physician at Henan Cancer Hospital, said in an interview: "It brings a good hope for survival to patients." The launch of larottinib means that the cure rate of NTRK gene fusion patients has improved, and cancer may become less terrible.

The true face of "healing medicine" larottinib

Larotrectinib (Vitrakvi) is the first NTRK inhibitor approved by the FDA and is a tumor-targeted drug with NTRK gene fusion.

The full name of NTRK is neurotrophic factor receptor tyrosine kinase. It is involved in the development, function and cell survival of the nervous system in healthy tissues. However, when any gene in the NTRK gene family is fused with other genes, it will lead to abnormal activity of cancer cells. , promotes tumor growth and spread. Larotrectinib has an anticancer effect by inhibiting tyrosine kinases in the signaling pathway to block its carcinogenesis.

Why is larotrectinib so popular? Dr. Xu said that compared with traditional chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other methods, larotrectinib is particularly prominent. It is not effective for which cancer type, but for NTRK gene fusion, regardless of cancer type, and is effective for this type of patients. The effective rate is as high as 79%, and the complete remission rate is as high as 16%. It is a very good "special drug".

The standard course of treatment for larotrectinib is 1 month. Generally, patients with good adaptability can see the effect in half a month. For slower patients, the effect may be seen in one month. The 81-year-old patient is not the first beneficiary, and the patient trial was successful long before him.

In 2015, a 29-year-old woman was found to have a 15 × 10 cm sarcoma in the cervix. Further genetic testing found NTRK3-SPECC1L chimeric rearrangement, and radiotherapy and chemotherapy were selected. After receiving 2 cycles of related treatment, unfortunately, the condition has not been relieved.

Until 2017 , she participated in the phase I clinical trial of larotrectinib without paying any fees . During the trial, she was treated with larotrectinib twice a day. Unexpectedly, her condition improved significantly, and then during her 3 years of medication, there was no radiographic or clinical progression, and no similar symptoms. Painful side effects like radiotherapy. At present, the patient should be able to work and live normally.

200,000 per month, 2.5 million per year? Really expensive!

Originally, the approval of larottinib in China was a good thing for the majority of tumor patients, but many netizens were worried and complained: this is a "high-priced anticancer drug"! After looking at the foreign prices, who can afford it? I thought it was hope, but when I look at the price, it is estimated to be despair...

If you only look at North American prices, it does! The purchase price of larotrectinib in the form of oral capsules in the United States is about 200,000 per month, or more than 2.5 million per year. Although larottinib was approved for listing in Hong Kong in June 2019, its cost is really expensive! About 328,800 a month.

Although it is more than 1.2 times cheaper than the US-approved "Kymriah" pricing (about 3.07 million) in 2017. For wealthy patients, 200,000 is really nothing, but for ordinary patients, it can be called an "astronomical price".

However, do not know whether domestic costs will be reduced? At present, larottinib has been approved for marketing in China, but it has not been officially launched, and the price has not been announced. Dr. Xu said that although there are relatively few patients of this type, the high medical expenses will still overwhelm every patient. He just hopes that it will be included in the medical insurance, and the price will be reduced to the affordable range of patients in China, so that more patients can see the raw materials. hope.

Although the R&D and production costs of biotech emerging products are not low, such as PD-1, the initial cost of listing is 300,000 yuan, but with the emergence of related technologies and the inclusion of medical insurance, the cost has dropped to 10% of the original price within two years. One, the annual use cost is only about 20,000. The same is true for the “WLife” substances that Hong Kong’s richest man has tried in recent years. When the laboratory first came out, the cost reached 20,000/gram. With the intervention of the biotechnology company Wright-Weijian, the cost has been reduced by nearly 90%. After the domestic Jing-dong and other channels, it once caused a wave of out-of-stocks. Now that each case of cancer patients is slowly rehabilitating and recovering, many powerful companies have joined the R&D track of larottinib, and such "special drugs" will be cheaper in the future.

Technological breakthroughs may usher in more low-cost "anti-cancer" therapies

In addition to high-priced "special drugs" such as larottinib, which have excellent anti-cancer effects, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently released news about the progress of oral tumor vaccines. According to Dr. Nie Guangjun, one of the researchers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, general-purpose tumor vaccines are also will appear in the near future.

Although various scientific and technological achievements are frequently made, for cancer, daily scientific diet, regular exercise, regular physical examination, development of good living habits, and active attention to health preservation are the best ways to stay away from its invasion. And with the help of some scientifically endorsed biological black technologies, such as "WLife" substances, Harvard research has shown that it can slow down the decay rate based on the cellular level, allowing the experimental body to survive longer. Many rich people are early adopters of such substances.

We can't predict where biotechnology will develop in the future, but maybe it will be as stated in "A Brief History of Time", with the advancement of technology, famine, war and plague are no longer problems affecting human beings, and human life may survive or become a problem. Possibly, and cancer will be a disease that humans can easily solve.