A vaccine against cancer was used for the first time in Russia. The drug was tested on a patient with skin melanoma

The National Medical Research Center of Radiology of the Russian Ministry of Health used the personalized Neoonkovak vaccine for the first time to treat an oncological patient. The drug was administered to a 60-year-old man with skin melanoma, the Ministry of Health reported .

“The patient is currently undergoing immunotherapy. Despite the treatment, there remains a high risk of further progression <…>. In these conditions, the use of a personalized mRNA vaccine is considered as a means of disease control,”

- the message says.

The vaccine is administered in stages: on the 1st, 8th and 15th days with increasing doses, then once every 21 days. A total of up to 10 injections are provided. The drug itself is made individually for the patient.

General Director of the National Medical Research Center of Radiology Andrei Kaprin said that specialists have used a fundamentally new approach - not just to treat the disease, but to “train” the immune system to recognize and destroy precisely those cells that pose a threat.

“Provided that the drug for the treatment of skin melanoma is successfully launched, we will, of course, consider the possibility of expanding the indications for the use of such vaccines,”

- he added.

• Last week, public discussion of the initiative to include three personalized cancer treatment programs, including oncology vaccines, into the compulsory medical insurance system. The cost of one course can reach 7 million rubles, Kommersant wrote .

• The release of the first three “test” cancer vaccines in the center of Gamaleya was reported in December last year. Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, stated that since 2019, mortality from cancer in Russia has decreased by almost 10%.