Anticancer drug R&D of gastrointestinal cancer in China: Current landscape and challenges

Challenges in gastrointestinal cancer and strategies in anticancer drug discovery

According to the latest report of cancer epidemiology published in 2022, about 1,500,000 new cases of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers were diagnosed in China, with 1,077,000 registered deaths.1 Both the GI cancer incidence and related deaths in China account for about 50% around the world, and the GI cancer burden is still increasing globally.2 Therefore, Chinese researchers have the responsibility to play a leading role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of GI cancer. For advanced GI cancers, despite progress of conventional chemotherapy, target therapy, and even immunotherapy, long-term survival of patients is still relatively low.