It was announced on Wednesday that the Da Nang Cancer Hospital will cooperate with AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company, to develop the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing process in non-small cell lung cancer.  The process will be carried out using European-standard technology. 

If their EGFR test results prove positive, lung cancer patients will be treated with enzyme inhibitors instead of the usual chemotherapy regimens.

Once operational, lung cancer patients from Da Nang and elsewhere in the central region will have the opportunity to access the EGFR mutation testing system free-of-charge in the hospital instead of going to other major cities like Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh City.

The time taken before test results are returned will be reduced from the present 14 days to just 24 hours, and the accuracy of the results will be over 95%.