MINSK, 21 March (BelTA) – Belarusian scientists are developing a new drug for the treatment of liver and kidney cancer, Yelena Kalinichenko, deputy director for research and innovation at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, said at BelTA's press center on 21 March.
“The so-called solid tumors observed in patients with liver or kidney cancer are very difficult to treat. Today doctors in Belarus and around the world know quite well how to treat leukemia, how to arrange the treatment in such a way as to increase the life expectancy and improve the quality of life, and even cure the disease completely. As for solid tumors, they are very difficult to treat, surgeries do not always have the desired outcome. Therefore, we have started working on a new drug,” Yelena Kalinichenko said.
The medicine will be an inhibitor of tyrosine kinase. It will block the activity of some protein kinases and halt the growth of the tumor. “We plan to sumbit the documents for the registration of the new drug in 2017,” Yelena Kalinichenko specified.
One pill of a foreign analogous drug costs $60. The Belarusian specialists expect that the domestic drug will be at least twice cheaper. Yelena Kalinichenko noted that some patients think that cheaper drugs are less effective and explained how the prices for the Belarusian drugs will be reduced. “Our original technology enables us to reduce the cost of the substance which is used in the manufacture of drugs, which reduces the price of the pill itself,” she noted.
She said that the substances based on the Belarusian technology are used in the manufacture of anti-cancer drugs. For several years Belarus has been producing a drug for the treatment of dermoid lung cancer (generic type drug). “One bottle of the original foreign drug cost $2,600 in 2014. One patient needs at least 5 to 7 bottles for one course of treatment. We produce both the substance and the drug, so the price has dropped to $1,000, i.e., 2.6 times. This is not the limit. With the scale of production expanding, the price will decline further. Highly effective drugs wil become more affordable,” she emphasized.
“Given that the treatment of cancer patients is free of charge in Belarus, i.e. is financed by taxpayers, the goal is to provide the patients with modern effective medicines and to produce the necessary drugs in the country,” Yelena Kalinichenko said.
