BEIJING - Six new medicines for the treatment of malignant tumors have been approved to enter the Chinese market in the past two years, offering more choices for patients, according to the Department of Major Science and Technology Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The six new drugs are classified as type-1 medicines in China, which means they are innovative with new structures and new mechanisms and have never previously been marketed either at home or abroad.

The newly approved medicines are used for treating malignant tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, rectal cancer, melanoma and lymphoma.

The new anticancer drugs are an outcome of a key science and technology project to develop major new medicines launched in 2008.

Before the start of the project, only five type-1 medicines were approved in China over a period of 23 years, while a total of 44 type-1 medicines have been approved since the launch of the project.

Chen Kaixian, deputy technical director of the project and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the new medicines have filled the gap of clinical treatment in China, and promoted the reduction of the price of similar drugs in the market, providing affordable drugs and new hope for Chinese patients.