Diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, 77-year-old Zeng Changhe relies on a cocktail of drugs to treat his pain: five pills of Oxycontin three times a day, and morphine injections if the tablets fail to provide sufficient relief.
“We knew that opioids are addictive but he has to rely on it,” says his wife Ren Zhongqiong. “He’s suffering too much. Only these painkillers can make him feel like himself.”
Synthetic opioids have become the star performers in China’s pharmaceutical market, as a rapid increase in cancer cases drives demand for pain-reducing drugs and patients lose fears about addiction.
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