In 2008, the anticancer drug sales reached 5.845 billion RMB in China. It jumped by 67 percent from 2007. While from 2003 to 2008, the compound annual growth rate of antineoplastic agents is 42.7%. Antineoplastic agents become the fastest increasing category of Chinese medicine.

With the difference from mechanism of action and drug sources, the general clinical traditional anticancer drugs are divided into alkylating agents, antimetabolites, alkaloids, hormones and antibiotics five main categories. In recent years, the monoclonal antibody resveratrol and small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor drug to promote the development of anticancer drugs market and the growth of new classes of drugs is much higher than traditional medicines. However, the share of new drugs in the Chinese market accounted for anticancer drugs is still low, is still widely used in clinical traditional medicines.

Generally plant bases drugs are cytotoxic, the largest category of anticancer drugs, the sample hospitals in 2008 more than 1.7 billion RMB in sales. Early plant bases include the Changchun bases, camptothecin class of drugs such as clinical commonly used taxane drug paclitaxel and semi-synthetic paclitaxel derivatives, docetaxel, and both occupy the plant the alkali drug market more than 70% of the share. Clinical sales of anti-tumor docetaxel stabilizing microtubules stronger anti-cancer spectrum wider, lower cardiac toxicity and neurotoxicity, to catch up after years of docetaxel has more than paclitaxel drugs.

Antimetabolite drugs are cytotoxic drugs, early drug fluorouracil, cytarabine and methotrexate is a classic anticancer drugs today still widely used clinically. In recent years, some newer antimetabolite drugs onto the market, its security, and so significantly improves the anti-metabolic drugs to become the largest category increase in the traditional anti-cancer drugs.

The alkylating agent is divided into the class of nitrogen mustard, nitrosourea class, mesylate esters and metal platinum. Its anti-cancer principles of structure and function to bind directly to DNA, the impact of cancer cells to achieve tumor cell killing. Antitumor alkylating agent has been used for many years, but the more serious blood, the neurotoxic side effects hinder application in clinical practice. In recent years, nitrogen mustard, nitrosourea and mesylate esters growth stagnation, only platinum preparation class third-generation drug due to a substantial increase in security and rapid market growth.

The anti-tumor antibiotics are a more traditional class of anticancer drugs. The medicines can be directly embedded in the DNA molecule, changing the nature of DAN template to prevent the transcription process, inhibition of DAN and RNA synthesis. The medicines are non-cycle-specific drugs, but have a stronger role in the killing of cells in S phase. General clinical anti-tumor antibiotics into polypeptides and anthraquinones, anthraquinone as the main clinical use of drugs. In recent years, however, as new anticancer chia seed drugs onto the market, the growth of anti-tumor antibiotics market year by year, market share is shrinking dramatically.

Anti-cancer hormone therapy becomes an irreplaceable way for curing breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. In recent years, new hormones of GnRH analogues and aromatase inhibitors are widely used in cancer treatment. GnRH analogue triptorelin and goserelin become first-line drugs for prostate cancer. For aromatase inhibitors, such as letrozole and anastrozole are widely used in estrogen-positive breast cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer patients.Source:http://www.cospcn.com