If you don’t know these contents about anticancer drugs, you will be out.
Among the 18 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths worldwide, China has 3.804 million new cases and 2.296 million deaths. This means that China accounts for 21 of every 100 new cancer patients in the world; China accounts for 23 out of every 100 cancer deaths in the world.
In the face of cancer, doctors are the hope of patients, and drugs are the weapons of doctors.
Recently, the first bevacizumab bio-similar drug in China was approved for marketing, which will improve the accessibility of this kind of drug and provide a new choice for the treatment of domestic patients. Some people call 2019 the outbreak year of biologically similar drugs. In November this year, the first adalimumab bio-similar drug in China was approved for listing; In February this year, the first domestic biological similar drug Rituximab was approved for listing & HELIP; … So, what kind of anticancer drugs do monoclonal antibodies belong to, and what are biologically similar drugs? Today, Xiaobian will take you to know.
Q: What are the common anticancer drugs?
A: Clinically, it is customary to divide anticancer drugs into cytotoxic anticancer drugs and non-cytotoxic anticancer drugs.
1. Cytotoxic anticancer drugs
Cytotoxic anticancer drugs are chemotherapy drugs that we often say, and their main functions are to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and induce their apoptosis, thus eliminating cancer cells.
2. Non-cytotoxic anticancer drugs
Common non-cytotoxic anticancer drugs include hormone drugs, targeted drugs and immunotherapy drugs. In recent years, there has been a great breakthrough in the development of this kind of drugs. Next, we will focus on the common non-cytotoxic anticancer drugs.
Hormone drugs
Some hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, cervical cancer, etc., are related to hormone imbalance. Therefore, the application of certain hormones or their antagonists can change the hormone balance, thus inhibiting the growth of dependent cancer cells, such as tamoxifen and exemestane, which are clinically used in breast cancer.
Targeted drugs
Targeted drugs can act on the unique signal pathway of cancer cells, killing cancer cells, but little or no damage to normal cells.
In the treatment of cancer, it should be said that targeted drug therapy is a precise treatment based on accurate diagnosis. By accurately finding the target of disease treatment and accurately monitoring the disease state and treatment process, we can finally achieve precise treatment for different patients and diseases in different States, and achieve the purpose of improving the treatment effect of diseases. Bevacizumab mentioned at the beginning is one of the targeted drugs.
Immunotherapy drugs
Immune cell therapy technology is to achieve therapeutic effect by regulating the precise immune response of human immune T cells to cancer cells. For example, the monoclonal antibody drug PD-1/PD-L1, an immune detection point, can specifically bind to PD-L1 on cancer cells to inhibit its expression, so that the inhibited T cells can recover their recognition function to cancer cells and achieve the anti-cancer effect.
In addition, some traditional Chinese medicines can also directly or indirectly damage cancer cells by regulating the immune function of the body, so as to prolong the survival time of patients and improve the quality of life.
Q: What are biologically similar drugs?
A: Biomimetic drugs refer to therapeutic biological products that are similar to the original drug (reference drug) that has been approved for registration in terms of quality, safety and effectiveness.
Q: What’s the difference between similar drugs and generic drugs?
A: Biomimetic drugs, also known as biosimilars, are biological drugs (including vaccines, blood and blood components, somatic cells, gene therapy, tissues, recombinant therapeutic proteins, etc.) similar to the approved original drugs. In principle, the amino acid sequence of candidate drugs for biological analogues should be the same as that of the original drug (reference drug).
Q: How to use anticancer drugs rationally?
A: Pay attention to the following three points when using anticancer drugs well:
1. Diagnose before taking medicine.
All clinical patients who use anticancer drugs must be confirmed by histopathology before using them. If targeted drugs are used for treatment, genetic testing must be carried out in advance.
2. Use drugs under the guidance of professional doctors and pharmacists.
For cancer patients with definite diagnosis, if it is standardized treatment, doctors and pharmacists need to choose appropriate drugs, definite usage and reasonable period for treatment according to the recommendations of the guidelines; If it is experimental treatment, doctors and pharmacists need to follow the relevant provisions of medical ethics, formulate a perfect clinical research plan for patients, and choose the corresponding drugs for treatment.
3. Pay attention to drug-related adverse reactionsshould do
During the use of anticancer drugs, patients should closely monitor their physical condition and report adverse reactions to doctors and doctors in time, which is very important for completing the treatment course and improving the quality of life.
Q: What do you think about the side effects of taking anticancer drugs?
A: In recent years, anticancer drugs have emerged in an endless stream, and their curative effects have been greatly improved. However, the selectivity of many anticancer drugs is still not high. While killing cancer cells, it will inevitably cause damage to normal cells, which is also the main reason that hinders their efficacy.
The most common side effects of anticancer drugs include: myelosuppression such as neutropenia, anemia and bleeding; Nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea and other digestive system toxic manifestations; Hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity occurred.
Q: What should we think about the side effects of taking anticancer drugs?
A: If there are no suitable targeted drugs for some cancer cells, or because of certain conditions, patients must choose chemotherapy schemes with greater toxic and side effects. Under the above circumstances, doctors need to predict the side effects of anticancer drugs as soon as possible and deal with them effectively, so as to choose the best treatment scheme for patients.
Compared with traditional chemotherapy schemes, targeted therapy and immunotherapy have fewer toxic and side effects, and are new choices for patients.
With the development of precision medicine, we have reason to believe that the side effects of anticancer drugs will become smaller and smaller, and the effective rate of disease treatment and the survival time of patients will be greatly prolonged. (Content Synthesis: National Medical Products Administration official website Information Release)