New Russian Gastric Cancer Treatment Passed Pre-Clinical Trials

Our colleagues have brilliantly finished pre-clinical trials, although this process was not easy. The company has scored significant results, won high marks from experts and secured sufficient funding. Clinical trials are to begin soon. Patients are eager to get the new treatment, Kirill Kaem, Skolkovo Foundation’s senior vice president for innovations, said at a press conference.

Ilya Timofeyev, executive director of the Russian Society of Clinical Oncology, in turn said that the new drug is absolutely original. It impacts receptors on cancer cells, which scientists hope will disrupt blood supply and tumor growth, he said.

The drugs currently available either work inside tumor cells, or impact receptors which, however, get adjusted to the treatment. The new medication connects with receptors and renders them inactive. This mechanism is new and its innovative effect has been recognized abroad. The company has secured patents in the United States, Japan, China, Russia, the European Union and the Eurasian Union, - Timofeyev said.

Given that this drug is the first in its class, it’s difficult to predict its effects. The drug has no similars, said Sergei Tyulyandin, chairman of the Russian Society of Clinical Oncology and deputy director for research at the Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center.

The effect will hopefully be clinically significant, although a great deal of work has yet to be done to prove its usefulness, he said, adding that clinical trials may last four to five years.

Tyulyandin also said that the drug would be tested on patients with gastric cancer, as about 25%-30% of them have receptor disorders. The first phase of clinical trials will involve 50 patients. Selection has not been announced thus far, but oncology centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk ad Rostov-on-Don will soon announce the beginning of trials.

If data is obtained about the drug’s efficacy, the drug will also be tested in treating breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer, experts said.

Source