The story behind fake anti-cancer drugs in Liaocheng

With the popularity of "Dying to Survive", on February 25, Shandong Satellite TV reported a video titled "Liaocheng: The Chief Physician Actually Prescribes Fake Medicine ", which revealed that Liaocheng doctor Chen Zongxiang recommended the Indian generic drug "Cabotinib" to a cancer patient. After the patient died, the family members had a series of disputes with the hospital on the grounds that the drug was a fake , thus staging a real-life version of "Dying to Survive".

Doctors recommend we believe

In an interview, the patient's family member Wang Yuqing said that after his father's chemotherapy was not ideal, he sought help from doctor Chen Zongxiang, who recommended an anti-cancer targeted drug called "cabozantinib" that has not been approved for marketing in mainland China but has begun to be promoted overseas. It is reported that this drug is very popular overseas and has a certain "broad-spectrum anti-cancer ability" that can inhibit the growth of many types of cancer cells. Although it has not been formally confirmed, it has undergone multiple clinical trials. At that time, he did not know that this was a "generic drug". Later, he bought it from others through the introduction of Chen Zongxiang. After his father's death, she went to the Liaocheng Food and Drug Administration for identification and concluded that it was a "fake drug."

I really want to help patients, but I am not a medicine god.

When this happened, Chen Zongxiang said that he had learned about cabozantinib through magazines, conferences, materials, the Internet and other channels. Clinical trials on bladder cancer were published in the 2016 American Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Annals of European Oncology and some other medical journals, proving that cabozantinib is effective for bladder cancer and has tolerable side effects. In addition, the patient's condition has improved after taking the drug, but because the patient is already in the advanced stage of cancer, his treatment path will become shorter and shorter. The family members sought help from him many times, and he introduced the drug to them and informed them of all the details of the drug. Dr. Chen Zongxiang said that he really wanted to help the patient, but he was not a medicine god.

After this report was broadcast, Liaocheng set up a special task force overnight, and the hospital involved, local public security organs and health and safety departments immediately made rectifications. The doctor involved, Chen Zongxiang, was [removed from his position as department director] and punished with [suspension of practice for one year].