Conference in Moscow: Discussion of Quality-of-Life Improvement in Patients with Hepatic Cancer

In December, Petrovax Pharm and the Interdisciplinary Society of Specialists in Hepatic Tumors (ISSHT) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Understanding during the IV Conference with international participation «Hepatic Cancer — Time to Collaborate!» This document is intended to consolidate the efforts the organizations undertake to improve cancer diagnosis, prevention, and treatment and to development innovative solutions in Russia. In addition, the symposium on combination therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma welcomed specialists to discuss the potential for collaboration between Russian and Chinese scientists.

According to official statistics, mortality from hepatic cancer is significantly higher (more than 10 thousand cases per year) than the number of newly diagnosed cases of the disease (more than 8 thousand)[1]. These findings highlight how serious this problem is and the necessity to take extra steps to combat the disease.

“The Memorandum we have signed is the beginning of a long-term cooperation between ISSHT and our company. We anticipate that collaborative research and initiatives to enhance cancer care will improve patients’ quality of life. Our mission is to make innovative treatment available in Russia. The implementation of innovative biopharmaceutical solutions in clinical practice provides a potential to minimize mortality from hepatic cancer, which is one of the oncological diseases with the highest death rates”,
said Vladislava Torshina, Managing Director of Budget Sales at Petrovax Pharm.

The Memorandum provides the collaborative scientific and clinical research, educational initiatives, awareness-raising activities, and assistance with the development of clinical recommendations.

“The effective collaboration with Petrovax Pharm has the potential to accelerate the development and implementation of novel cancer diagnostic and treatment technologies in clinical practice. Collaboration between the medical community and pharmaceutical corporations is required to ensure the availability of contemporary approaches to therapy for a wide variety of patients”,
noted Valery Breder, President of ISSHT, Dr. habil. med., Head of the Department of Medicinal Treatment at the Federal State Budgetary Institution “N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

The document was signed during the satellite symposium “Contribution of international cooperation to generate modern approaches to the combination therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)”.

HCC is the most common malignant hepatic tumor that accounts for about 85% of hepatic cancers[2]. The overall prognosis for patients with this disease is unfavorable[3].

According to Valeryn Breder, the new agent, camrelizumab, opens up extensive prospects for the treatment of HCC due to its properties in the mode of action, including lower Fc-yR affinity than other anti-PD-1 antibodies. This protects T-cells from immune response and preserves the antibody concentration within the tumor, hence enhancing therapy efficacy.

Symposium participants noted that combination therapy with camrelizumab can achieve significant survival outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

For example, the CARES-310[4] study presented by Prof. Tang Hao, Dr. habil. med. (The First Hospital of China Medial University) evaluated the efficacy of therapy for the combination of camrelizumab and rivoceranib versus sorafenib in 543 patients with unresectable HCC. Camrelizumab in combination with rivoceranib demonstrated statistically and clinically significant benefits in progression-free survival and overall survival compare with sorafenib. The median OS for the camrelizumab + rivoceranib was 23.8 months versus 15.2 months for sorafenib. The OS rate group camrelizumab + rivoceranib versus sorafenib was 49.0% versus 36.2% after 24 months and 37.7% versus 24.8% after 36 months.

Camrelizumab treatment of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma in the phase 3 CARES 310 clinical trial showed comparable results in one of the international study’s centers in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The clinical case was presented at the symposium by the Head of the Department of the Republican Clinical Oncology Dispensary of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Alexander Valerievich Sultanbaev.

Reference information

Camrelizumab is a monclonal antibody that blocks the PD-1 receptor, promoting the reactivation of tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and stimulates antitumor immunity. Camrelizumab is the first immuno-oncology product in Russia approved for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, an extremely fatal disease. The safety and efficacy of camrelizumab is now being evaluated in relation to other malignant neoplasms.


1 V. M. Merabishvili, V. K. Gurkalo, E. N. Merabishvili. Morbidity, mortality, and accounting accuracy for patients of various age groups with hepatic cancer in Russia. Advances in gerontology. 2020. Vol. 33 No. 2. UDC 314.4:616.36-006-053(470).

2 Breder V. V., Balakhnin P.V., Virshke E.R., Kosyrev V.Yu., Ledin E.V., Petkau V.V. Practice guidelines for the medicinal treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Malignant tumors: RUSSCO Practice Guidelines #3s2, 2021 (Volume 11). 25.

3 Surg Oncol Clin N Am. 2015 January; 24(1):1-17. doi: 10.1016/j.soc.2014.09.001. Epub 2014. Oct 3.

4 Qin, ShukuiQin, Shukui et al. Camrelizumab plus rivoceranib versus sorafenib as first-line therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (CARES-310): a randomized, open-label, international phase 3 study The Lancet. Volume 402, Issue 10408, 1133-1146.
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