XVIII Russian Cancer Congress
Results of the Oncological Congress
Anastasia Novak, <url>From November 11 to 13, the XVIII Russian Cancer Congress was held in Moscow at the Congress Center of the World Trade Center.
The second day began with a section prepared by the Skolkovo Foundation on the introduction of fundamental research into the practice of doctors, and ended with the summing up of the results of the Oncobiomed 2014 competition.
ROCK is one of the largest events in Europe for practicing doctors, dedicated to discussing issues related to cancer diagnosis and therapy, as well as presenting the latest developments in this field. It is conducted by the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Society of Oncologists and Chemotherapists under the auspices of the Association of Oncologists of Russia. About 3,000 oncologists took part in the congress this year.
The first session on November 12, organized by Skolkovo, was devoted to translational medicine and how fundamental research is being implemented into the practice of a doctor. The speakers, practicing doctors and developers of medicines and technologies discussed the most famous studies taking place in closed laboratories, which are gradually entering clinical practice.
Ilya Timofeev, Director of the Society of Oncologists-Chemotherapists and the Bureau for the Study of Kidney Cancer, devoted his report to the topic "Discovering new targets of targeted therapy". On behalf of the Society of Oncologists, he supported the actions of Skolkovo to stimulate Russian medical research and create innovations. Timofeev considered all the research results and treatment options using the example of kidney cancer treatment. Due to the appearance of a large amount of information about new targets, new inhibitors, many doctors have a feeling that the era of targeted therapy has come, the speaker noted. Targeted therapy provides for the presence of some validated target in the tumor, which is responsible for its transformation and progression. Timofeev recalled that oncologists should evaluate not only the target, but also the target inside the target, that is, evaluate options for blocking the target in different parts of it. The approach to target discovery should be rational, not empirical, because in this case it means going into chemotherapy. "The search for new targets will significantly increase the effectiveness of therapy for malignant neoplasms," Ilya Timofeev concluded. "Thanks to the discovery of new inhibitors for kidney cancer, the life of sick patients has already increased from one year to four."
After him, Alexey Lagunin, Doctor of Biological Sciences, spoke about the direction of repositioning of medicines, which is gaining popularity among small and large medical companies. This is the use of already known drugs, or drugs that are at a late stage of clinical trials (stage II or III) for new indications, therapeutic groups or areas. When choosing a new life for already known drugs, the development time and financial costs are reduced, since the drug used has passed at least phase I of clinical trials confirming its safety (at stages II and III, its effectiveness and dosage are already confirmed). In 2013, in Russia, 25% of candidate drugs in phase II and 65% in phase III of repositioning became drugs in a new area or in a new group, Lagunin said. The speaker also spoke about the repositioning of some drugs already in use for the treatment of oncological diseases, showed the possibility of predicting pharmacological effects and gave an assessment of gene expressions that significantly accelerate the possibilities of repositioning drugs.
American doctor Pedro Sanchez-Lara spoke about the sequencing of a new generation and a full-fledged approach to the study of retinoblastoma, which are partially carried out at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
Kristina Khodova, Project Manager of the Skolkovo biomedical cluster, listed the tools to support innovative developments in Russia.
From an economic and social point of view, innovations affect the productivity of society, support fundamental science, the speaker said. In addition, innovations help to overcome the "valley of death" – the period of time when an idea, even if it has proved its necessity and passed the tests, is looking for its potential investor. "With the support of projects at an early stage, Skolkovo reduces risks in such a period," says Kristina Khodova. However, in order to obtain truly innovative, breakthrough technologies, a large amount of resources is needed – human, temporary, technical, and there is a gap between science, the clinic and the market.
According to Hodova, financial support is the most effective: in the form of grants or tax benefits, as is done in Skolkovo, in the form of subsidies, investments from venture funds and companies, or in the form of state contracts, government interest-free loans.
As another type of support, Skolkovo has a mentoring program: within its framework, representatives of companies that have successfully entered the technology market are ready to share their experience with startups. There is also regulatory support: discussion of new bills, initiatives that are being read. In addition, Skolkovo helps to register medical research and drugs, patent developments, search for investors, provide consulting, PR and HR services.
The Skolkovo Foundation considers the organization of meetings of startups and investors, experts, and scientists to be an important factor. "One of the largest–scale events that are held for all categories is Startup Village, the third conference will be held next June," Khodova said. "The event is preceded by the Startup Tour, which gathers innovators at the sites of the regions to tell them about the latest developments and learn from them about new ideas."
In recent years, a large number of development institutions have been created in the Russian Federation, which support various projects at various stages. At the "pre–sowing" stage - when conducting research – groups of researchers are assisted by the Fund for the Promotion of Small Enterprises (the Bortnik Foundation), the RFBR and the Ministry of Education and Science; at the sowing stage – when creating a product concept, conducting applied and development work, developing a business plan - the Bortnik Foundation, Skolkovo and RVC; at an early stage of development, when the product is being patented, certified and put into production, support is provided by Skolkovo, RVC, Rusnano and VEB Innovations; and at the stage of expansion and growth, Vnesheconombank, Rusnano, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and regional programs will help entrepreneurs organize mass production.
Further in the session, the results of their research and development were presented by the residents of Skolkovo. A representative of the startup DAOSS spoke about a new highly sensitive method of mutation analysis and its application in molecular oncology. The representative of Lex Quantum LLC explained the principle of multifactorial physico-pharmacological treatment of malignant tumors. A representative of Selecta (RUS) LLC spoke about the development of vaccines based on synthetic nanoparticles for the treatment of oncological diseases. A representative of OncoTartis LLC shared information about the development of NAMPT inhibitors as drugs to combat AML, and a representative of Domestic Pharmaceutical Technologies LLC shared information about an ALK/NAUK1 kinase inhibitor for the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer.
In the afternoon, the congress summed up the results of the joint competition of the Skolkovo Foundation and RUSSCO. The best projects in the field of development of innovative technologies in oncology were selected. The first place was won by Roman Kholodenko for the creation of antibodies for the treatment of a number of oncological diseases. The second place was taken by LLC "Biosoft.<url>" for its test system for early diagnosis of colon cancer. And the third place was awarded to Nobel LLC for a new platinum-organic compound for the treatment of oncological diseases.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru02.12.2014