The findings were a part of an emerging markets study entitled Liver Cancer in China. Both financial and medical specialists for Decision Resources forecast that the growth in this industry in China will be fueled by increasing access to medical care, increased sales of existing therapies, and the introduction of novel targeted agents.
Victor Li, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources says, "More than 50 percent of liver cancer cases worldwide occur in China, because of the pandemic status of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in this country." Li continues by saying, "Therapies with superior efficacy and fewer side effects, such as Bayer's Nexavar, will enjoy great commercial success in China's liver cancer market."
Chinese manufactured targeted biologics are another group of agents that will register significant growth over the 2006-2011 period and compete with Western manufactured targeted agents. Unlike Western countries cost is much more of a factor and negative constraint for the Chinese.
HCC is a primary cancer of the liver. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection (hepatitis B or C) or cirrhosis (alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic cirrhosis). In countries where hepatitis is not endemic, most malignant cancers in the liver are not primary HCC but metastasis (spread) of cancer from elsewhere in the body, e.g. the colon. Treating HCC and patient prognosis are dependent on many factors but especially on tumor size and staging.
Sadly in non-Western nations the usual outcome is poor, because only 10 - 20 percent of hepatocellular carcinomas can be removed completely using surgery. If the cancer cannot be completely removed, the person could die within 3 to 6 months. The quick downward spiral is partially due to late presentation with large tumours, but also the lack of medical expertise and facilities.
Forty-four percent of physicians surveyed believe that high drug prices are one of the main hindrances that limit the effective management of HCC. Apparently Western branded medicines and treatment protocols are at such a high cost that patient compliance and persistence is affected thereby creating a negative patient prognosis. This is a rare tumor in the United States.
