Blood nanofiltration: wait five years
On Thursday, November 6, the Supervisory Board of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (RUSNANO) recommended that the board approve an investment deal to finance the medical project "Development, design and construction of a high-tech scientific and production complex "Beta" for the production of medical equipment."
The aim of the project is to create a domestic high–tech production of medical equipment for cascade filtration of blood plasma and related technologies for the treatment of a wide range of diseases by purifying blood from harmful substances and viruses.
The project has a high social significance, as it is aimed at the treatment of a number of widespread diseases, such as atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, heart failure, acute poisoning, etc., in terms of the incidence of which Russia is noticeably ahead of developed countries. Every year, about 1.5 million people die from these diseases in Russia.
Cascade plasma filtration is a high–tech method of blood purification that allows you to selectively remove only viruses and harmful proteins that are the cause of the disease, while maintaining the healthy components of the blood that are normally present. Currently, cascade filtration has been implemented only in a few developed countries (Japan, Germany and Italy) on the basis of extremely expensive fiber filtration technology, which automatically led to its inaccessibility for the bulk of the population even in these countries.
The proposed unique technology of cascade filtration on flat track membranes, which has no analogues in the world, makes it possible to radically reduce the cost of the procedure and transfer it from the category of elite medicine to the category of effective and accessible treatment methods for a wide range of people.
The implementation of the investment transaction and the operational activities of the project company will be carried out in the Russian Federation. RUSNANO invests 1.29 billion rubles in the authorized capital of Trackpor Technology CJSC.
Trackpor Technology CJSC is a Russian leader in the production of medical equipment for the treatment of diseases associated with a violation of the composition and functions of blood. The company produces devices and consumables (blood plasma filters) for therapeutic plasmapheresis, creates turnkey treatment centers and provides consulting services in this area. In 2008, the company plans to produce 130 thousand filters and 350 devices. The company was nominated for the award of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology for 2008.
The project will be implemented on the basis of a subsidiary of this company – CJSC Nano Cascade, which is a resident of a special economic zone of a technical and innovation type in the science city of Dubna, Moscow region.
The project will be implemented in three stages over 5.5 years:
• the first stage is the creation of an industrial complex in the period 2009-2011.;
• the second stage is business development by increasing production capacity and reaching the planned production volume 4.5 years after the start of investments;
• the third stage is the search for a strategic investor and RUSNANO's withdrawal from the project within one year after the completion of the second stage.
– The relevance and social significance of the project are beyond doubt, – says Deputy Director General of RUSNANO Andrey Malyshev. – The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that it is located at the junction of several high-tech areas at once: medicine, nuclear physics and instrumentation. In addition to the medical field of application, nanofiltration technologies for liquid and gaseous media are increasingly being used in a wide variety of industries, which will allow Trackpor Technology to develop a whole range of filtration technologies based on track membranes in the future.
– The introduction of medical nanotechnology into wide practice is a matter of the very near future, – said Vladimir Kononov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trackpor Technology CJSC. – The implementation of an innovative project to create a new generation of medical equipment capable of producing nanofiltration of blood plasma components – up to individual protein molecules – will solve a number of acute problems that stand in the way of the formation of an innovative medical care system on a national scale. We are glad that our partner in the project is such a solid development institution as the state corporation RUSNANO.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru10.11.2008