PATIENT FROM SERBIA FIRST IN THE WORLD TO GET RUSSIAN CANCER VACCINE

BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 6 /SRNA/ – A patient from Serbia, Jovana Aleksić, who has melanoma, a skin cancer with metastases, will be the first person in the world to begin treatment with a Russian cancer vaccine, confirmed Sergey Boljevich, Head of the Department of Pathology at Sechenov University in Moscow.

Boljevich says the treatment will begin within the next month, or at most two, and that the production of the vaccine for her will start on Monday. He explained that artificial intelligence is also used in the vaccine development process, so the team involved will speak in detail about the work on the vaccine at a major conference in early April in Sochi, Russia. He stresses this is not a clinical trial, but treatment, and that the decision for the first patient to be from Serbia was made because of good relations with that country. “Of course, there are other patients being worked with in parallel, but this will be the first person in the world to begin treatment of this form of cancer in this way,” Boljevich specified. According to him, if someone is cured of melanoma cancer with the vaccine, they can no longer develop that form of cancer. As he explained, “data” are taken from the diseased tissue cells, analyzed, and then the medication is developed. He says a patient needs a total of 10 doses of the vaccine, administered every two weeks; after two or three doses it is possible to see whether the tumor is regressing, i.e. whether the treatment is efficient. Boljevich noted that patients from Russia, as well as from Republika Srpska, will be treated at the expense of the health insurance fund, which is why procedures for them are somewhat slower. “With Serbia and other interested countries, there are still no agreements with their health funds, but we hope that some changes will occur there soon as well,” Boljevich said.