China has 350,000 new liver cancer patients every year, accounting for nearly half of the world's total, according to Leng Xisheng, president of the Chinese College of Surgeons.

The deadly disease claims about 320,000 lives in the country each year, making it the third most common and second most deadly type of cancer, Leng told the launching ceremony of a new anti-cancer drug on Sunday.

Liver cancer has become the top killer in four provincial-level areas: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Guangxi.

"The liver cancer incidence rate is still increasing in China," said Leng, who is also the director of Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery at Peking University People's Hospital.

Surgery and liver transplants can offer a cure at the early stages, but most cases are only detected in the intermediate or terminal stages, when life expectancy falls to four to six months on average, Leng said.

To extend late-stage patients' remaining survival time, the State Food and Drug Administration approved an oral drug, Nexavar, after it showed promise in clinical trials.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)