China Medical Frontiers
China Medical Frontiers
What's newly approved — and newly practised — at China's hospitals
Regulators, hospitals and manufacturers publish this every week. Almost none of it reaches an English-speaking patient in a usable form. This section tracks it, verifies it against the original source, and explains what it means if you are considering treatment in China.
Tracked topics
Each topic page holds the standing picture: what is approved, where it is available, who qualifies and what it costs. Dated entries below update it.
Alzheimer's Disease-Modifying Therapy in China
阿尔茨海默病对因治疗
Two amyloid-targeting antibodies are approved in China — lecanemab in January 2024 and donanemab in December 2024. Both are for early disease only, both require confirmed amyloid pathology, and neither is a cure.
Open topic →CAR-T & Cell Therapy in China
CAR-T 与细胞治疗
China approved its first CAR-T in 2021. Two products are now approved — one CD19-directed for lymphoma, one BCMA-directed for myeloma. Here is what is approved, what treatment actually requires, and what nobody publishes.
Open topic →Joint Replacement Surgery in China
关节置换手术
Hip and knee replacement are routine, high-volume procedures in China with short waits and NMPA-registered implants. This page tracks what is changing in technique — and what a foreign patient has to confirm before booking.
Open topic →Latest entries
Dated, source-backed items. Each one names the regulator notice, hospital announcement or publication behind it.
2025-09-29 · Innovative drug
Lecanemab four-weekly maintenance dosing approved in China
After the 18-month two-weekly induction phase, patients in China can now switch to 10 mg/kg every four weeks. For a patient travelling from abroad, that change matters more than any efficacy headline.
2024-12-17 · Innovative drug
Donanemab approved in China for early Alzheimer's disease
China's second amyloid-targeting antibody arrived eleven months after lecanemab, with a stepped dosing schedule and label support for stopping once plaques are cleared.
2024-08-27 · Cell therapy
BCMA CAR-T ciltacabtagene autoleucel approved in China for multiple myeloma
China's first BCMA-directed CAR-T takes cell therapy beyond CD19 lymphoma into plasma-cell disease — with a label restricted to patients who have already failed three lines.
2021-06-22 · Cell therapy
China's first approved CAR-T: axicabtagene ciloleucel
The approval that built China's CAR-T operating model — designated centres, apheresis capacity, a cold chain to the factory, and an ICU-backed safety protocol.
How this section is written
A source for every claim
Approval status comes from the NMPA. Availability and pricing come from the hospital. Anything we could not confirm is written down as unknown rather than smoothed over.
Approved is not the same as available
A drug approval, a hospital rollout and a price you can actually be quoted are three different stages. We label which stage an item has reached, because the gap between them is where patients get caught out.
This section is written for international patients planning treatment in China. It is general information, not medical advice, and it does not replace an assessment by a qualified physician who has seen your records.
Treating something you read here?
Send the diagnosis, the treatment history and the city you can reach. We confirm whether the hospital actually offers it, what the current price is in writing, and how many days the trip needs.