The death of a 21-year-old student has turned public attention to an expensive cancer therapy that became all the rage in China in recent years.

The parents of Wei Zexi, a computer science major at Xidian University in Shaanxi province who died of a rare form of cancer, wait outside a funeral home in Xianyang, Shaanxi, on April 13. [Wan Jia/ for China Daily ]

Wei Zexi, a student at Xidian University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, died from synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft tissue, on April 12 after seeking treatment in the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps.

The DC-CIK therapy Wei received was advertised to be a kind of immunotherapy. It uses the patient's own immune system to help fight cancer.

However, the DC-CIK therapy has already been stopped in the West because it was difficult to evaluate its effect. "In the United States, clinical tests on traditional CIK therapy have been stopped," said Zhang Minhui, a researcher with the Medical Center at Tsinghua University.

The unchecked development of the therapy is partly fueled by the huge profits. A business insider said that anyone can join in the business with 500,000 yuan (US$76,950) to 600,000 yuan (US$92,340). A full therapy charges around 200,000 yuan (US$30,800). "Receiving less than 10 patients, you will begin to make a profit," said the business insider.

Sloppy government supervision is also blamed for the development of the therapy. In 2015, the National Health and Family Planning Commission eased restrictions on hospitals eligible to offer DC-CIK therapy. In 2013, Zeng Yixin, a leading oncologist, submitted suggestions on therapy standards to relevant authorities, but hadn't received a reply until today.

Actually, it remains unclear which government department should be responsible for the supervision of the issue. Experts are debating whether it should come to the purview of the China Food and Drug Administration or the National Health and Family Planning Commission, because they can't decide if it should be seen as a medicine or a treatment method.

Hospitals have also been found failing to self-discipline in this field. To avoid going through necessary internal inspection procedures, hospitals usually subcontract part of the therapy to third-party laboratories.

Despite sloppy supervision, a lack of standards and ambiguous effects, the therapy has still been included into the public health care package in many provinces and regions.

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