(Yicai Global) June 5 -- Pfizer is linking arms with medical partners in China’s lower-tier cities to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancers as well as to make these services more standardized and affordable, an executive at the US drugmaker’s China arm said recently.

Pfizer aims to improve cancer prevention and treatment at the county-level through better screening and diagnosis, said Wang Yiqin, general manager of Pfizer China’s tumor division. The drugmaker will help with the training of doctors, improve access to drugs and offer payment plans to patients.

Grass-roots medical institutions have shortcomings in the diagnosis, treatment and management of cancers, Wang said at a forum on precision therapies for lung cancer in Shanwei, southern Guangdong province.

“Many cancer patients in the rural areas prefer to seek treatment at bigger medical facilities in the cities. But I believe more people will choose local hospitals as the level of diagnosis and treatment improves, as they get better access to drugs and as more payment solutions are offered,” he added.

The vast majority of people suffering from lung cancer in China are in the counties. But cancer drugs are not dispensed in large quantities in these areas because many patients choose to go to the big cities for therapy, Song Qibin, head of the Cancer Center at the People's Hospital of Wuhan University, told Yicai Global.

Cancer is a complicated disease which requires cross-disciplinary synergy in fields such as surgery, radiology, pathology and oncology, said Zhang Jianhui, general manager of Pfizer China’s broad market department. The joint growth of multiple disciplines is needed to improve the level of cancer therapy at the county-level.

Pfizer is also helping to make treatments more affordable, Wang said. The New York-based company is teaming up with health insurance firms to offer disease insurance for lung cancer patients, such as cover for ALK and ROS1 lung cancers.

It will also help people to purchase expensive new drugs through patient assistance programs and lobby for these medicines to be included in the national medical insurance scheme, he said.

China had around 4 million new cancer patients in 2016, 61 percent of which lived in the cities and the rest in rural areas, the National Cancer Center said in March.

Editor: Kim Taylor