How to Deal with the Projected Rise of Prostate Cancer Cases in the Chinese Healthcare System "Presentation" - Dingwei Ye
November 15, 2024
At the 2024 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC), Dingwei Ye addresses China's response to the rising incidence of prostate cancer. The presentation discusses various strategies including public awareness campaigns and localized screening programs while highlighting China's progress in accelerating drug approvals and developing domestic treatments like rezvilutamide through international collaboration.
Biographies:
Dingwei Ye, MD, PhD, Professor, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, China
Biographies:
Dingwei Ye, MD, PhD, Professor, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, China
Read the Full Video Transcript
Dingwei Ye: I'm from Fudan University, Shanghai Cancer Center. Actually, I'm a urologist. So I'm going to talk about how to deal with the projected rise of prostate cancer cases in China.
You can see here, in the past couple of years, the incidence of prostate cancer increased dramatically. So in 2022, it already ranked sixth in the incidence rate of male cancers. Last year, we performed 1,700 cases of radical prostatectomy.
But it's not balanced. Actually, in urban areas, it's higher than in rural areas. Also, in Shanghai, prostate cancer is already in the top three. So the five-year survival rate is lower than that of other countries, even the East Asia region countries like Japan and Korea. In 2022, it also ranked seventh in male cancer mortality.
The main reason is that the early diagnosis rate is simply low. Nearly 60% of initially diagnosed prostate cancers were locally advanced or metastatic disease. So it is necessary to explore how to deal with this situation.
How to deal with this rise of prostate cancer in China—actually, in 2019, the State Council launched the Health China Initiative. The purpose is to improve the national health level. Also, last year, the Chinese government launched the action for cancer prevention and control. This indicates that dealing with the increase of prostate cancer has already become a national strategy.
So enhancing public awareness is a very important measure. Actually, the Chinese government and medical facilities try to promote prevention science and arouse people's attention. Regarding screening policy, actually, there are national screening policies for breast cancer, GI, even liver, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, there is none for prostate cancer. But for the developing areas or developed economic areas like China's Eastern coastal areas, local government and medical facilities try to establish their own screening strategy.
Also, the Prostate Cancer Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association formulated the consensus. They just increased a lot of new methods and technologies in the consensus to try to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. So in order to improve treatment outcomes, the Chinese government constantly adds a lot of investment for the introduction of medical equipment and new drugs, even the integration of new resources.
I'm a urologist. For instance, regarding the Da Vinci robotic surgery system, in the past five years, over 300 machines have been set up in China. But there is a significant regional gap. In China's Eastern coastal areas, the economy has, relatively speaking, developed, and there's more concentration of the equipment.
Also, a lot of domestic brands of robotic machines are emerging. Clinical trials are ongoing, like RONOVO, Toumai, and Jingfeng. For instance, in our center, the domestic robotic surgery system has become number one. We just finished the clinical trial. We found that there are no significant differences in surgery time, bleeding, and even complications.
So accelerating drug approval is also very important. For instance, enzalutamide took seven years for commercial launch in China after FDA approval. For olaparib, it only took one year. Actually, most of the drugs are already brought into medical insurance coverage.
So in order to increase the speed of approval of new drugs in China, actually, Chinese experts also developed their own drugs independently. For instance, rezvilutamide is a new CHART trial developed in China. Two years ago, it got approved in China, soon brought into medical insurance, which is simply a benefit for the vast number of Chinese patients.
So in order to improve treatment outcomes for prostate cancer care, we try to promote the MDT approach in China. Also, the model of the MDT approach evolved from the classical MDT face-to-face discussion in the hospital, with the development of the National GU oncology network, and also with the improvement of the internet plus the MDT network nationwide. In recent years, with the 5G generation of internet improvement, many international experts have joined us for online discussions, bringing convenience and breakthroughs. Also, the GU oncology community issued a consensus.
So the domestic standard for prostate cancer care also evolved, firstly by joining the international guidelines to develop their own guidelines. Also, Asia-Pacific colleagues worked together for a consensus, specifically for patients in Eastern regions. Also, many studies in China are incorporated into the international guidelines and, again, the recommendation.
So we try to promote internationalization. We host the Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Society annual meeting. Also, last year, we hosted the preceptorship for next-generation imaging. Most of the speakers were from the top centers in the Asia-Pacific, focusing on precision medicine for prostate cancer.
Summary: The incidence of breast cancer is rising rapidly in China, with a significant imbalance between urban and rural, southeastern coastal, and central western regions. China does not have a national-level PSA screening policy, but is deploying screening strategies in economically developed regions.
The Chinese government has made great efforts to enhance public health awareness, accelerate the approval of new drugs, introduce new equipment, and support original research. Chinese experts are actively promoting the MDT model and the internationalization of cancer care in China. Thank you for your attention.
Dingwei Ye: I'm from Fudan University, Shanghai Cancer Center. Actually, I'm a urologist. So I'm going to talk about how to deal with the projected rise of prostate cancer cases in China.
You can see here, in the past couple of years, the incidence of prostate cancer increased dramatically. So in 2022, it already ranked sixth in the incidence rate of male cancers. Last year, we performed 1,700 cases of radical prostatectomy.
But it's not balanced. Actually, in urban areas, it's higher than in rural areas. Also, in Shanghai, prostate cancer is already in the top three. So the five-year survival rate is lower than that of other countries, even the East Asia region countries like Japan and Korea. In 2022, it also ranked seventh in male cancer mortality.
The main reason is that the early diagnosis rate is simply low. Nearly 60% of initially diagnosed prostate cancers were locally advanced or metastatic disease. So it is necessary to explore how to deal with this situation.
How to deal with this rise of prostate cancer in China—actually, in 2019, the State Council launched the Health China Initiative. The purpose is to improve the national health level. Also, last year, the Chinese government launched the action for cancer prevention and control. This indicates that dealing with the increase of prostate cancer has already become a national strategy.
So enhancing public awareness is a very important measure. Actually, the Chinese government and medical facilities try to promote prevention science and arouse people's attention. Regarding screening policy, actually, there are national screening policies for breast cancer, GI, even liver, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, there is none for prostate cancer. But for the developing areas or developed economic areas like China's Eastern coastal areas, local government and medical facilities try to establish their own screening strategy.
Also, the Prostate Cancer Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association formulated the consensus. They just increased a lot of new methods and technologies in the consensus to try to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. So in order to improve treatment outcomes, the Chinese government constantly adds a lot of investment for the introduction of medical equipment and new drugs, even the integration of new resources.
I'm a urologist. For instance, regarding the Da Vinci robotic surgery system, in the past five years, over 300 machines have been set up in China. But there is a significant regional gap. In China's Eastern coastal areas, the economy has, relatively speaking, developed, and there's more concentration of the equipment.
Also, a lot of domestic brands of robotic machines are emerging. Clinical trials are ongoing, like RONOVO, Toumai, and Jingfeng. For instance, in our center, the domestic robotic surgery system has become number one. We just finished the clinical trial. We found that there are no significant differences in surgery time, bleeding, and even complications.
So accelerating drug approval is also very important. For instance, enzalutamide took seven years for commercial launch in China after FDA approval. For olaparib, it only took one year. Actually, most of the drugs are already brought into medical insurance coverage.
So in order to increase the speed of approval of new drugs in China, actually, Chinese experts also developed their own drugs independently. For instance, rezvilutamide is a new CHART trial developed in China. Two years ago, it got approved in China, soon brought into medical insurance, which is simply a benefit for the vast number of Chinese patients.
So in order to improve treatment outcomes for prostate cancer care, we try to promote the MDT approach in China. Also, the model of the MDT approach evolved from the classical MDT face-to-face discussion in the hospital, with the development of the National GU oncology network, and also with the improvement of the internet plus the MDT network nationwide. In recent years, with the 5G generation of internet improvement, many international experts have joined us for online discussions, bringing convenience and breakthroughs. Also, the GU oncology community issued a consensus.
So the domestic standard for prostate cancer care also evolved, firstly by joining the international guidelines to develop their own guidelines. Also, Asia-Pacific colleagues worked together for a consensus, specifically for patients in Eastern regions. Also, many studies in China are incorporated into the international guidelines and, again, the recommendation.
So we try to promote internationalization. We host the Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Society annual meeting. Also, last year, we hosted the preceptorship for next-generation imaging. Most of the speakers were from the top centers in the Asia-Pacific, focusing on precision medicine for prostate cancer.
Summary: The incidence of breast cancer is rising rapidly in China, with a significant imbalance between urban and rural, southeastern coastal, and central western regions. China does not have a national-level PSA screening policy, but is deploying screening strategies in economically developed regions.
The Chinese government has made great efforts to enhance public health awareness, accelerate the approval of new drugs, introduce new equipment, and support original research. Chinese experts are actively promoting the MDT model and the internationalization of cancer care in China. Thank you for your attention.