Roche Diagnostics: doing more to help Chinese patients

As one of the two core businesses of the Roche Group, Roche Diagnostics seeks to foster a better health care blueprint during the second China International Import Expo, unveiling leading-edge products and innovative solutions focusing on personalized health care field.

“CIIE is a significant measure for China to open up its market, as it not only carries new expectations of global enterprises for the Chinese market, but also brings new opportunities for the vision of a better life,” said Richard Yiu, general manager of Roche Diagnostics China.

“China has become one of Roche’s most important strategic centers in the world, as Roche Diagnostics and the Chinese market have grown together for nearly 20 years. Through this prime event, we hope to facilitate more innovative in-vitro diagnostic technology here in China, as a part of our commitment to the well-being of Chinese patients and the ‘Healthy China 2030’ blueprint,” Yiu added.

New diagnostic technology for cancer management

Performed on blood, tissue or other patient samples, in-vitro diagnostics is a critical source of objective information for improved disease management and patient care, which is the key to clinical treatment decisions.

Currently, in-vitro diagnostic technologies are widely used in the overall process of cancer management. One type of in-vitro diagnostic technologies call companion diagnostics is playing an increasingly prominent role, especially in the field of personalized health care.

Companion diagnostics can help doctors identify patients’ cancer type and empower pathologists and oncologists to target therapies personalized for each patient.

The combined strength of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals has made Roche a pioneer in the trend toward personalized health care. At this year’s CIIE, Roche Diagnostics has brought the latest achievements in the field of tumor diagnosis, including the companion diagnostics of immunotherapy.

Tumor immunotherapy has triggered heated discussion in the past two years after the listing approval of corresponding drugs in China, while accurate diagnosis is the first step to achieving precision health care. 

The VENTANA PD-L1 (SP263) assay exhibited by Roche Diagnostics is the most commonly associated PD-L1 companion diagnosis in the world. It can be associated with three mainstream immunotherapy drugs in terms of non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial cancer. This test is expected to be on the market in China early next year;

VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) assay is the first companion diagnostic to aid in identifying triple-negative breast cancer patients eligible for specific immunotherapy.

With the highest morbidity and mortality rates in China, lung cancer can be divided into small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. The latter accounts for 80-85 percent of lung cancer in total and non-small-cell lung cancer can be divided into lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma. Lung adenocarcinoma accounts for 50.1 percent of lung cancer in China and lung squamous cell carcinoma for 33.4 percent. About 50 percent of lung adenocarcinoma patients have EGFR mutations.

Targeted therapy is currently the most effective treatment for EGFR mutations. This year, Roche Diagnostics’ new generation of the cobas EGFR mutation test for plasma samples was officially approved in China, making it the one that can use both tissue and plasma samples. The test on plasma samples brings new hope to patients who cannot provide tumor tissue samples by surgery for EGFR mutation detection.

New era of digital solutions

Roche Diagnostics is also paving its way in digital transformation to develop better products to support reliable clinical decisions.

The latest NAVIFY Tumor Board is Roche’s first digital product that not only assists tumor boards to collect the relevant clinical data from patients, but also provides a global database of the latest clinical guidelines and studies.

Through a powerful database, NAVIFY becomes a “think tank” for tumor boards to review, align and decide on the optimal treatment for patients.

‘Smart’ laboratory

Under the growing demand for better medical service in terms of testing process and management, laboratories in China are facing challenges to realize the concept of automation, systemization and testing efficiency.

Roche Diagnostics’ MyLab+ intelligent laboratory management is based on the needs of the laboratory, combined with lean management, big data, artificial intelligence and other “hi-tech” to create customized smart solutions.

For clinicians and patients, MyLab+ can help them get test reports faster, especially for diseases requiring first aid, such as myocardial infarctions.

Since Roche Diagnostics entered the Chinese market nearly 20 years ago, the company has always kept up its growth with China’s medical reform and development.

With the vigorous development of China’s medical industry and in-vitro diagnostics, China has become a crucial partner and the second largest market in the world for Roche diagnostics.

“CIIE demonstrated that China will always open it market and provide us more opportunities to grow with the market. Roche Diagnostics is always passionate and confident in this open and growing market. We are rooted in this and will continue to enrich in-vitro diagnostic solutions, to push the boundary of this industry and cater to the demand of Chinese patients and doctors,” Yiu stressed.