Minister without portfolio in charge of international economic cooperation Nenad Popović said today that the first patients in Russia will receive the cancer vaccine in May, and that patients from Serbia will be the first to receive the vaccine immediately after Russian patients, by the end of the year.
Popović stated that production of the vaccine in Serbia could begin in the second half of 2027.
Speaking to RTS, the minister said that he recently held talks in Moscow with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and experts involved in the development of the Russian cancer vaccine, adding that it was agreed that Serbian patients would be among the first to receive the vaccine after Russian patients.
“In May — this is the latest information — the first patients in Russia will receive this vaccine. The process of producing these vaccines is ongoing, because a separate vaccine is made for each patient based on the specific characteristics of the tumor and the patient’s genetic code,” Popović said.
He noted that patients from Serbia will be among the first to receive the vaccine immediately after Russian patients, adding that Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar, acting on the orders of President Aleksandar Vučić, has formed a commission that will visit Russia in March and the scientific research institutes “Herzen” and Gamaleya, where the diagnostic process and the vaccine production process will be studied.
Popović said that 17 scientific research organizations and universities from Russia are involved in the process, and added that an agreement should be signed in the coming months that will allow the Torlak Institute and scientific research organizations from Serbia to join the project.
“The idea is not for our patients to travel to Russia. The idea is that in the initial period, by the end of this year, we receive the vaccine directly from Russia so that our patients can be vaccinated here, and that in 2027 we have the possibility to produce this vaccine at the ‘Torlak’ Institute,” Popović said.
He emphasized that the Torlak Institute has outstanding experts and technological capabilities, and that Serbia would invest in the further development of the technological process for vaccine production in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Popović said that the Russian cancer vaccine has shown an almost 100 percent success rate in preclinical trials.
“Of course, the process of administering the vaccine will show whether this will be confirmed, but according to all research conducted so far, the same result is expected in patients,” Popović said.
He noted that a vaccine against melanoma is currently being developed, and that in the coming period vaccines will also be produced for lung, pancreatic, kidney, and breast cancer.
Popović also recently visited Kazakhstan, and speaking about the upcoming visit of the President of Serbia to that country, he emphasized that Vučić will be welcomed with open arms and that relations between Vučić and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev are excellent.
According to him, this has given impetus to the governments of the two countries to work on increasing the growth of trade between Serbia and Kazakhstan.
“Last year we recorded growth of around 10 percent, but we expect even higher growth. We have seen growth in exports of Serbian products from the defense industry, as well as the food and processing industries,” Popović said.
He emphasized that Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world, with enormous potential, and that it has some of the largest oil and gas reserves.
“They have excellent infrastructure that they are developing. That market is a huge opportunity for our entrepreneurs from the processing industry, mechanical engineering, construction, new technologies, the IT sector, and digitalization,” Popović concluded.
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Source: Novosti; Foto: Printscreen YouTube / Al Jazeera Balkans