Why is Russian cancer treatment drug getting more attention than usual?

Pembroria drug with active ingredient pembrolizumab was granted circulation registration on October 31 (Photo: Getty).

Russian cancer drug opens hope of reducing cost burden

Recently, the drug Pembroria with the active ingredient pembrolizumab, 100mg/4ml vial produced by Limited Liability Company “PK-137”, Russian Federation, was granted a circulation registration certificate by the Drug Administration ( Ministry of Health ) and received great public attention.

The Drug Administration also confirmed that the Russian cancer treatment drug that has just been licensed for circulation is not a new cancer drug. In fact, since 2017, a cancer treatment drug with the same active ingredient pembrolizumab produced in the US called Keytruda has been licensed for circulation by the Drug Administration (Ministry of Health ).

MSc. Dr. Nguyen Duy Anh - a nuclear medicine and oncology expert said that this is an immunotherapy drug in cancer treatment that has been used to treat cancer in both public and private medical facilities for many years.

Pembroria – a biological drug similar to the American drug Keytruda produced by Russia has caused a strong “crowd effect” with many mixed opinions.

“In fact, Vietnam has been using a series of similar biological drugs in cancer treatment for many years. Some types are very familiar to patients such as Trastuzumab-like biological drugs: for example, Hertraz, Herticad, TrastuRel - treating HER2-positive breast cancer.

MSc. Dr. Nguyen Duy Anh - expert in nuclear medicine and oncology. Photo: NVCC

Bevacizumab biosimilar drugs: Abevmy, Mvasi - treatment of lung, colorectal, ovarian cancer; Rituximab biosimilar drugs: Reditux, Truxima - treatment of lymphoma, leukemia... These drugs have been used in millions of doses worldwide and in Vietnam, helping to reduce treatment costs by tens of percent while still ensuring the same effectiveness as the original drug. Pembroria actually follows that path," said Dr. Duy Anh.

According to Dr. Duy Anh, although it is not a new cancer drug, the Russian product is expected to significantly reduce the cost burden for this superior but expensive treatment method. The expected price of Pembroria is about 18 million VND/bottle, with the usual dose being 2 bottles for 1 treatment cycle. Thus, the cost for a patient's treatment cycle is about 36 million VND with a dose of 200mg (2 bottles).

“The American product costs more than 60 million VND/bottle, each infusion requires 2 bottles and is infused once every 3 weeks. The cost creates a big barrier for patients in accessing this very effective treatment method. When a biological drug similar to Pembroria is licensed, with a significantly lower expected price, it is understandable that public opinion is strongly interested,” Dr. Duy Anh shared.

Don't "deify"

The Russian cancer drug is indicated for the treatment of esophageal carcinoma, cancer with high-grade microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or mismatch repair defects, cervical cancer, renal cell carcinoma, endometrial carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer, adenocarcinoma of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction, cholangiocarcinoma.

Image of patients waiting for their turn to see a doctor at the K Hospital, Tan Trieu branch, Hanoi, at 5:00 a.m. Photo: GIA KHIEM

However, Dr. Duy Anh also emphasized that public interest sometimes turns into deification, considering this as a "magic medicine, just use it and you will be cured" or excessive fear, thinking that this is an incomplete experimental medicine. Both of these are incorrect.

"What people really need to understand is that Pembroria is not an experimental drug. To be licensed, it must demonstrate structural similarity to Keytruda in terms of efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Biosimilars are not cheap, low-quality products.

This is a high-tech biotechnology product, much more complicated to manufacture than a generic drug (a drug with the same active ingredients, content, dosage form, route of administration and uses as the original brand-name drug), so it should not be used according to trends. The drug is only effective when properly indicated, for example, lung cancer with high PD-L1, MSI-H colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer... but do not avoid it because of rumors. If a specialist evaluates it appropriately, the patient can absolutely use it," Dr. Duy Anh advised.

Regarding this issue, the representative of K Hospital said that the unit has a plan to purchase Pembroria medicine to use for patients in the near future. However, according to the hospital representative, not everyone with the cancers listed above is prescribed drugs containing the active ingredient pembrolizumab. The use of pembrolizumab also depends on many factors such as: the patient's health status, the type of tumor mutation, the stage of the disease, etc.

At K Hospital, treatment is individualized for each patient. Based on a number of factors, the doctor will advise and provide a suitable treatment regimen to ensure effective treatment.

Pembrolizumab is the name of the active ingredient (active ingredient) invented by MSD (USA) with the trade name Keytruda, 100mg/4ml vial. Pembrolizumab is essentially a monoclonal antibody against PD-1 and is a biological drug indicated for certain types of cancer, belonging to the immunotherapy group. The drug is administered by intravenous infusion at a medical facility.

According to Dan Viet

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/vi-sao-thuoc-dieu-tri-ung-thu-cua-nga-lai-duoc-quan-tam-hon-muc-binh-thuong-526866.html