New Delhi: Shanghai has become a popular destination for cancer patients from the US, Europe, New Zealand, and other western countries because of the low cost of treatment and the rapid advances in biotechnology.
According to a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, several cancer patients from New Zealand have travelled to Shanghai for treatment. Their experiences highlight the growing trend of patients seeking advanced and more affordable cancer care in China. According to the WSJ, CAR-T therapy in China can cost between $150,000 and $230,000, compared to $550,000 to $850,000 in the United States.
“China has basically done to CAR-T cell therapy the same thing that it’s done to other industries, which is, they’ve industrialized it,” said Sairah Ahmed, director of the CAR-T program in the department of lymphoma and myeloma at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
CAR-T therapy was first developed in the United States, but for patients from wealthy countries who seek the treatment, Shanghai is the more popular destination.
One example mentioned in the report is 25-year-old Michael Walters, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. After chemotherapy and immunotherapy in New Zealand failed to treat his cancer, he travelled to Shanghai to receive CAR-T therapy at Shanghai Sino United Hospital. He was later declared to be in complete remission.
Walters also considered treatment options in the United States, India, and Australia. A hospital in Melbourne offered to provide the therapy, but the treatment could have cost up to $600,000, which was too expensive for his family.
At SinoUnited Hospital in Shanghai, Walters paid less than half of that amount. On August 18, he learned that the treatment had been successful and that his lymphoma was in complete remission.
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Patients from all over the world
The report also mentions that China has made progress in some cancer treatments faster than the US. In June, Chinese health authorities approved a new CAR-T treatment for a type of cancer that affects the stomach and upper part of the small intestine.
It was the first CAR-T treatment in the world approved for solid tumors. Josh Bronkhorst, a 59-year-old businessman, was one of the first to receive this treatment after it was approved.
While Walters had gone to China because the treatment was cheaper, Bronkhorst went there because this type of CAR-T treatment for solid tumors is currently available only in China.
“It’s not a miracle drug, but this was by far the best option I could find,” Bronkhorst said in the report.
China began allowing foreign patients to receive CAR-T treatment in 2021. Since 2023, Shanghai SinoUnited Hospital has treated about 30 patients from 12 different countries, according to the hospital’s CEO, Dr Kathy Shi. She said that most of these patients are now free of cancer.
The hospital has also treated patients connected with major US hospitals such as MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr Shi said that more people from the US, Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia are now asking about treatment in China.
“A year ago, I was frequently talking to Chinese patients seeking international treatment,” said Xuan Linli, chief of medical oncology at Jiahui Hospital. “Now, more and more overseas patients are requesting consultations with us.”