After expiration of AstraZeneca's Iressa patent protection, Qilu Pharmaceutical is bringing gefitinib to more patients in need

After six years of research and development, a generic targeted drug to treat cancer made by a Chinese pharmaceutical company hit the market on Feb 18.

The new gefitinib cancer-treating drug, with the Chinese commercial name of Yiruike, was produced by Qilu Pharmaceutical (Hainan). Its release ends an almost decade-long monopoly by Iressa, developed by the UK-headquartered multinational biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which was introduced to China in 2005.

A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is equivalent in dosage, strength, quality and intended use to a brand-name product manufactured by its original developer. Generic drugs often become available after the patent protection on the original drug expires.

Yiruike was approved for marketing by the China Food and Drug Administration after Iressa's patent protection expired in April 2016, according to Qilu.

A panel of Chinese pharmacists, headed by Yang Guoping, a professor at Central South University's Xiangya Hospital, have endorsed Yiruike.

"Contrast studies have proven that China-developed Yiruike has the same biological and clinical effects as the original drug," Yang said.

The price for Yiruike is less than 2,000 yuan ($290.8) per pack, while its imported counterpart is priced at 5,000 yuan per pack.

According to Qilu's free drug plan, a patient will get the medicine for free after buying 24 packs in eight months. The plan has already been launched.

Qilu's general manager Li Yan said the price for Yiruike is "a fraction" of the price of the previously available drug, which means more people in need can be helped.

The drug is a much-needed first-line medicine used in targeted therapies against non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for about 80 percent of lung cancer cases in China.

Gefitinib specifically works against the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, which essentially puts the brakes on cell growth. In non-small cell lung cancer, the mutation of EGFR leads to a proliferation of cells, forming fatal tumors.

Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer in China. About 591,000 people die from lung cancer in China every year, according to the National Cancer Center. There are about 733,000 new cases every year.

Targeted therapy has emerged over the past decade as a promising treatment for advanced lung cancer patients, those who do not respond well to chemotherapy.

The price of targeted therapy drugs are exorbitant to most working class families.

Gefitinib targeted therapy has proven so popular that in 2014 a Chinese charity began helping lung cancer patients who could not afford to buy the drug.

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(China Daily 02/23/2017 page17)