Russia has claimed to have developed its own mRNA vaccine against cancer, which it plans to launch for the general public in early 2025, reported TASS news agency. The vaccine will be distributed free of cost to patients, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health Andrey Kaprin has told Radio Rossiya.
Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg earlier told TASS that the vaccine’s pre-clinical trials have shown that it suppresses tumour development and potential metastases.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that the scientists in the country were close to creating vaccines for cancer that could be soon available to patients.
“We have come very close to the creation of so-called cancer vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs of a new generation,” Putin had said in a televised comments in February. “I hope that soon they will be effectively used as methods of individual therapy,” he added, according to a Reuters report.
However, it has not been yet specified as to which type of cancer the proposed vaccines would target, nor how.
Several countries and pharmaceutical companies around the world are working on the development of cancer vaccines. Last year, the UK government inked an agreement with Germany-based BioNTech to launch clinical trials providing “personalised cancer treatments”, aiming to reach 10,000 patients by 2030.
Pharma companies Moderna and Merck & Co are also developing an experimental cancer vaccine that has shown — in a mid-stage study — the chance of recurrence or death from melanoma by half after three years of treatment. Melanoma is considered to be the most deadly skin cancer.
Currently, there are six licensed vaccines against human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause many cancers, including cervical cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
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