When it comes to cancer, people avoid snakes and scorpions. The treatment process of cancer is not only very painful, but also very expensive. Glenin (actually called Gleevec) in "I Am Not a Medicine God", the famous PD-1 inhibitor that shook the country, and the 1.2 million CAR-T therapy that was approved for a sky-high price after being listed last year are all a microcosm of the expensive anti-cancer drugs.
Fortunately, in recent years, the state has vigorously promoted anti-cancer drugs into medical insurance, and anti-cancer drugs such as Gleevec and PD-1 inhibitors have reached the cost of 100 yuan and 1000 yuan. People no longer look to medicine and sigh, what a good thing. And today we will talk about a very "cheap" anti-cancer drug without entering medical insurance - all-trans retinoic acid.
97-year-old academician war disease: 13 yuan anti-cancer drugs
About 30,000 people die of leukemia on the mainland every year, and this number is increasing year by year. Of the 40,000 new leukemia patients added each year, about 50% are children. In the face of a fierce illness, 97-year-old academician Wang Zhenyi began to fight it as early as 1959.
In the middle of the last century, the cure rate of leukemia in China was very low, and Wang Zhenyi, who had just adjusted his work and came into contact with leukemia research, watched more than 60 patients fall on the road to survival in just half a year. Watching the patient die but unable to do anything about it, Wang Zhenyi fell into torment and pain.
But the patients who lined up behind to seek medical treatment did not give Wang Zhenyi time to frustrate and lose, and he could only continue to fight with leukemia.
After nearly 20 years of research, Wang Zhenyi has learned more and more about the dangerous enemy of leukemia. In the army of leukemia, promyelocytic (M3) leukemia is the most ferocious, with a mortality rate of more than 90%. What Wang Zhenyi wants to bite is this M3 leukemia!
It took Wang Zhenyi 8 years to discover an undiscovered mechanism in continuous experiments and attempts: all-trans retinoids can induce M3 cells to differentiate into normal cells in vitro. Wang Zhenyi used this newly discovered mechanism to propose the world's first induced differentiation theory and developed all-trans tretinoin.
In 1986, the all-trans tretinoin-induced differentiation therapy developed by Wang Zhenyi finally ushered in the first patient. A little girl with M3 leukemia was admitted to Shanghai Children's Hospital, and the attending physician was Wang Zhenyi's wife.
Because it was a new treatment, Wang Zhenyi, who was waiting for the opportunity, waited for a long time to trust his patients. And this little girl who was told that it was difficult to live for 7 days became a breakthrough point.
Wang Zhenyi risked his discredit and persuaded everywhere, and the little girl's family finally agreed to give it a go. The facts proved to be excellent for all-trans retinoic acid, and after treatment, the little girl had a fever after a week, the indicators returned to normal, and the 7-day life has been healthy until now.
All-trans retinoids have dramatically increased the cure rate of M3 leukemia to more than 90%, and patients around the world are attracted to it. As the inventor of all-trans tretinoin, Wang Zhenyi gave up the opportunity to apply for a patent. The wealth of people who do not have diseases is the insistence of Academician Wang.
Success is also low price, and defeat is also low price
All-trans retinoic acid is undoubtedly a good drug for the treatment of M3 leukemia, after making a name for itself, Academician Wang's hospital was responsible for producing the drug, until the domestic ban on hospital drug manufacturing has been 13 yuan / box of pricing.
13 yuan was actually not very "cheap" at the time, and the purchasing power was different. But with the development of the economic level, the price of 13 yuan has slowly pushed the meager profit extremely low. The so-called success is also low price failure and low price, the profit of all-trans tretinoin is meager, and the M3 leukemia patients are relatively small, and they have stopped production because no pharmaceutical factory is willing to produce.
Later, a conscience pharmaceutical factory in Shandong took over the production of all-trans retinoic acid, but the price was raised to 290 yuan and 10 capsules. This use cost seems to have increased, but in fact, it is still more conscientious.
In the folk "anti-cancer" effect spread boiling, the actual clinical anti-cancer effect is unknown "miracle drug" tablets, with 1 grain 1500 yuan is called "medicine in Mao - Tai". In recent years, due to the aging of the aging intervention of the hot β - niacinamide substance, but also because of the publication of anti-liver cancer research of Tsinghua University has been put on the altar, with the substance as the main component of the "WLNAD" once called for 40,000, until "Liteviglig" to achieve localization of "wLnad" in the East price of universal.
"Tablets" and "WLNAD" can be like this, and the price increase of all-trans tretinoin is very understandable. Only by ensuring profits can good medicines continue and continue to save patients' lives.
The state also follows this principle when collecting medical devices, and the cardiac stents that dropped from 10,000 yuan to about 700 yuan last year also reserved a very sufficient profit space for enterprises to ensure the level of materials, production processes and quality requirements.
Wang Zhenyi: Live to learn from old age
It has created a new era of M3 leukemia treatment, and Academician Wang Zhenyi is known as the "father of cancer-induced differentiation". With such high achievements, the 97-year-old academician Wang still insists on visiting doctors and constantly learning new knowledge.
"What if I live to be in my 90s and my stomach is empty?"
Academician Wang learned to use the computer to read papers, and used the newly learned knowledge and students to discuss clinical difficult diseases. Outstanding contributions in medicine, Academician Wang Zhenyi was awarded the 2020 China Future Scientist, but he himself is very dissatisfied with this. He thought that the young man's contribution was greater, and why should he reward him as an old man.