Trials of innovative drugs push treatment frontier ahead

As World Clinical Trials Day passed on Wednesday, Beijing Cancer Hospital is showing how technology and teamwork are transforming patient access to lifesaving research.

The hospital's laboratories remain open late at night, and nurses rush blood samples for immediate processing. There is no delay. Assisted by artificial intelligence, the teams never sleep.

For Song Yuqin, deputy director of the hospital, the dedication is routine. Her team has led or participated in more than 300 clinical studies involving around three-fourths of all new drugs for treating lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in China.

Over the past decade, China has evolved from being a country known for generic drugs to an important source of global innovation in medicine. China-based companies conducted approximately 39 percent of global cancer clinical trials in 2024, surpassing the United States.

For Song's hospital — one of the top clinical and research hospitals in the country — 3,800 patients were enrolled in various clinical trials last year.

"Our engagement in the research and development of innovative drugs helped improve affordable access into quality drugs for all Chinese patients," she said.

This progress mattered. Before 2018, many patients relied on imported drugs that cost tens of thousands of yuan. Some people were forced to sell their homes or take on debt to pay the bills.

Because of the research, lymphoma patients' chances of survival improved. People who previously would have lived only three to five years can now live 15 to 20 additional years, or even longer.

Insights gained from global clinical trials over the years, also enabled Song's team to better help Chinese companies develop domestic versions of innovative drugs and cut ties with foreign suppliers.

"These achievements didn't come easy," she said.

Back in 2006, when Song first got involved in clinical trials, peers from other Chinese hospitals shrugged off her laboratory efforts. They choose instead to focus mainly on expanding the clinical side and adding more sick beds for treatment. But now all that has changed.

Since 2015, however, the Chinese government has introduced a series of favorable policies and regulatory reforms to accelerate clinical trials and support the nation's home-grown drug innovation. One result is that the long-standing historical lag time for drug approval has been dramatically reduced, and drugs are getting to market at a quicker pace.

To uphold the national strategy and meet the rising demand for clinical trials, more Chinese hospitals began taking to Song's approach. "The shifting trend has proven our early choice to be correct," she said.

Patient attitudes toward clinical trials have also shifted dramatically. "More than a decade ago, people in drug trials often viewed themselves as akin to lab rats," Song said. "Today, patients actively seek better trials — even overseas patients who email inquiries."

Patients join trials for three main reasons, she said: for access to more effective and convenient drugs; to save money on high-priced medications; and to replace existing treatments that have failed.

But despite the progress, barriers remain. Many patients, for example, don't know which hospital is involved in suitable trials or encounter English-language obstacles on official platforms. Or they travel unnecessarily to Beijing when sites exist nearby in their hometowns.

Large hospitals host hundreds of trials, often scattered across departments, and doctors have difficulty tracking them all to provide complete information for patients they see in brief consultations.

To address this, Peking University Cancer Hospital launched an AI pilot. The system runs daily after hours, matching patient information with hundreds of hospital trials, item by item.

"AI has great value in clinical trial patient matching," Song said. She envisions a nationwide expansion of patient matching through government-led data sharing among medical institutions.

While many patients benefit from existing therapies, 15 or 20 percent remain incurable — mostly children and others under age 30. Clinical trials offer them hope for longer survival.

The studies involve hundreds of dedicated professionals working behind the scenes. Their mission, as Song puts it, is simple: "Let information travel more; let patients travel less."