China approves Takeda cancer drug

Visitors gather at the Takeda Pharmaceutical booth during the third China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda announced on Friday that Brigatinib, an innovative lung cancer drug, has been approved by China's National Medical Products Administration, bringing a new treatment option for lung cancer patients.

The tablet is a new anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitor used to treat those suffering from non-small cell lung cancer.

The company said the drug, which has been clinically proven to prolong patient survival, controls the spread of the disease especially cancer to other parts of the body and improves the quality of life of patients.

It has been listed as a first-line preferred drug in national clinical practice guidelines of cancer and the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

The approval of the medicine also marked Takeda China's official entrance in the field of lung cancer treatment, the company said.

Lu Shun, one of the country's leading experts in lung cancer and director of the department of oncology at the Shanghai Chest Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said there have been therapies in this disease area but their control of metastasis in the brain is insufficient and there exists an unmet clinical need.

"Research results showed that Brigatinib has significant intracranial efficacy and strong inhibitory effect on drug resistance sites, both of which are important for patients," he said.

Experts said the tumor subtype that the drug is indicated for treatment is a dangerous one. Data showed 30 percent of such patients suffer from brain metastasis when they were first diagnosed, and 75 percent developed brain progression within two years of treatment.