Kazakhstan’s homegrown cancer drug faces new delays

Kazakhstan’s first domestically developed cancer drug will not be ready by the end of 2025, despite earlier assurances from government officials.

Set deadline

In March, Science and Higher Education Minister Sayasat Nurbek said the country would complete development and registration of the drug by year’s end. At the time, he said the medication had successfully passed the first phase of clinical trials and was being tested on multiple types of cancer.

According to Nurbek, tumors in patients had shrunk by an average of 30%, some patients had gone into remission, and officials were planning a separate press conference in December to mark the drug’s official registration.

Nurbek also said the Ministry of Healthcare was actively supporting the approval process and guiding researchers through required regulatory procedures.

Deadline missed

With less than a week remaining in 2025, however, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Aliya Rustemova offered a blunt update.

«No, not yet,» she said when asked whether the drug was ready.

Previously, Kursiv.media reported that researchers at the National Laboratory Astana and the Kazakh Institute of Oncology and Radiology in Almaty were working to determine the maximum tolerable dose of the experimental drug, known as DVC.

Scientists enrolled eligible cancer patients and were administering the drug in high doses, with treatment courses of up to 36 injections.