Chinese drugmaker Qilu Pharmaceutical has introduced a new targeted therapy generic cancer medicine, geftinib, which is claimed to be effective against non-small cell lung cancer. This form of the disease is believed to account for around 80% of lung cancer cases in the People’s Republic, where lung cancer kills more people than any other malignancy.

The drug known under its brand name of Yiruike has been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration. It is expected to replace Astra Zeneca’s version of geftinib, marketed as Iressa, for which patent protection expired in April 2016. Until then, the Anglo-Swedish company is said to have held an effective monopoly with its treatment, on the Chinese market since 2006.

The pharmaceutical specifically works against the epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR, whose function is to put the brakes on cell growth. In non-small-cell lung cancer, the mutation of EGFR leads to a proliferation of cells, forming fatal tumors.

Over the past decade, targeted therapy has emerged as a promising treatment for advanced lung cancer patients who do not respond well to chemotherapy. The price of the drugs, however, is out of range for most Chinese working class families – a situation that according to reports prompted a national charity to help lung cancer patients unable to pay the 10,000 yuan ($1,470 million) cost of a week's dosage. The new solution is expected to be priced under 2,000 yuan per pack.

According to China’s national cancer center, some 591,000 people die from lung cancer in the country every year, with around 733,000 new cases occurring in the same time frame.