Russian patients get access to first immuno-oncology drug to treat nasopharyngeal cancer
Moscow, May 15, 2025. — The Russian market receives the first batch of the original innovative drug Areima® (camrelizumab). The drug was authorized in the country in November 2024 as a therapeutic option to treat nasopharyngeal and esophageal cancer. This product marked a new era in helping patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, previously treated with chemotherapy only.
The monoclonal antibody camrelizumab stimulates antitumor immunity by blocking the PD-1 receptor and reactivating tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells.
This target drug has the potential to significantly improve prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal and esophageal cancer, as experts believe it offers a number of advantages over previous generation drugs.
Before the drug was authorized, the only option for Russian patients with nasopharyngeal cancer was chemotherapy. The one-year mortality rate was 45%[1]. This new treatment method can make a dramatic difference. For example, according to the CAPTAIN-1st trial, the use of camrelizumab significantly increased the overall survival, progression-free survival and reduced the risk of death by 49%[2].
The Russian Society of Clinical Oncology (RUSSCO) has already included camrelizumab in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin in its Practical Guidelines[3] as the most preferred first-line nasopharyngeal and esophageal cancer therapy regimen. The expert boards also recommended to include the new immuno-oncology drug in the Clinical Guidelines for Esophageal Cancer and Nasopharyngeal Cancer.
When used as a neoadjuvant therapy product to treat esophageal cancer, which is one of the four most difficult-to-treat diseases, camrelizumab, combined with chemotherapy, lowered the risk of progression or death by 31%, according to the ESCORT study[4].
Petrovax Pharm plans to complete the localization of camrelizumab production facilities under a licensing agreement with Jiangsu Hengrui (China).
Reference information
Areima® (camrelizumab) is the immuno-oncology drug authorized in Russia as an agent to treat regional and metastatic esophageal squamous cell cancer in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin, as well as recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine. The drug has undergone international clinical trials, including those in Russia[5]. Camrelizumab has already been used in more than 300 thousand patients in clinical practice.1 V. M. Merabishvili, Z. A.-G. Radzhabova et al. Head and neck tumors. No. 3, 2024
2 Yang, Y. et al., 2021, The Lancet Oncology, 22(8), pp.1162-1174
3 L. V. Bolotina et al. HEAD AND NECK TUMORS. Practical Guidelines of RUSSCO. https://doi.org/10.18027/2224-5057-2024-14-3s2-1.1-09
4 Jing Huang, Jianming Xu, et al; Lancet Oncol, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30110-8
5 https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?intr=Camrelizumab
