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Russian Ministry of Health Unveils New Cancer-Fighting Drug

Valery Sharifulin / TASS

A new drug developed by the Russian company BIOCAD has shown efficacy in fighting skin, lung, bladder, kidney, head and neck cancer.

Oleg Salagaev, head of the Ministry of Health's Communications Department, quoted BIOCAD company president Dmitry Morozov when he explained that the new drug differs from traditional chemotherapeutic agents because it continues to work even after patients stop taking it.

According to Salagaev, the drug works by triggering an immune response which allows the body to fight the tumor. In this way, even patients with severe forms of cancer have a chance at survival. 

On Dec. 28 Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova announced that a new anti-cancer drug is undergoing trials in Russia. The working name of the drug is PD-1, but it will receive a new name once it's approved for the market.

Earlier Pascal Sorio, an executive from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, told the Kommersant newspaper that research is underway at Skolkovo to find and fund Russian projects in the field of oncology. The projects are mostly concerning diagnostic systems, including molecular cancer diagnosis.

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