A Servier’s treatment has gained official approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to be used for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is called the “emperor of all cancers” due to its insidious symptoms, high degree of malignancy and high fatality rate. There were 124,994 new cases of pancreatic cancer and 121,853 deaths in China in 2020[1]. Thus, there are huge needs for treatment options as the incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing year by year.
No other treatment for pancreatic cancer indications had become available in Mainland China since 1999. There is still a high unmet medical need for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
For Stephane Mascarau, General Manager of Servier Tianjin Pharmaceutical, “This approval marks an important step forward for Servier to play a key role in oncology in China”.
As cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide2, Servier’s ambition is to become a recognized player in oncology, initiating therapeutic progress where the need is greatest. Therefore, the Group dedicates more than 50% of its R&D budget to this field.
The pancreas is a digestive system organ, located deep in the abdomen, behind the stomach. It has two main roles: it produces the pancreatic juice, discharged into the intestine, which plays a part in digestion, and the secretion of two enzymes that are crucial for regulating the level of blood glucose.
1 IARC Global Cancer Observatory
2 WHO