Health Canada has approved a new treatment for adults with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare form of head and neck cancer, the company behind the treatment said in a statement Tuesday.
On Thursday, Health Canada approved the drug tislelizumab, sold under the brand name Tevimbra, to be used in combination with two other chemotherapy drugs, gemcitabine and cisplatin, for the first-line treatment of adult patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
The drug was first approved in China in 2019, in the European Union in 2023 and in the United States and Australia in 2024.
Nasopharyngeal cancer, which originates in the upper throat, affects a “small but significant number of Canadians each year,” but accessing immunotherapy can be difficult, BeOne Medicines said.
“This approval represents an important milestone and treatment advancement for Canadians diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma,” said Dr. Desiree Hao, head and neck medical oncologist at Alberta’s Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
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Adult patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma have “long faced limited therapeutic choices,” Hao said, adding that the arrival of Tevimba for Canadians suffering from the condition is a “welcome treatment option.”
According to the company, nasopharyngeal carcinoma is rare when it comes to the general population, affecting less than one in 100,000 Canadians.
However, the rates of occurrence are higher in some Inuit communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, at 10 out of 100,000.
By the end of 2025, an estimated 8,100 Canadians will be diagnosed with head and neck cancer, with 2,200 dying in 2025, the statement said.
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