"AH” has written about the company "ViaVitalis" many times. Our permanent readers will remember the story about auto vaccines helping the people with kidney cancer and which the company has tried to introduce into the Russian market. In fact, it has been blocked by medicine merchants. Money was more important for them than the lives of thousands of ill people. have learned that the company now is engaged in making a new breakthrough project called an artificial blood.
Our reporter went over the details in Zelenograd.
Afghan echo
What the project manager Vyacheslav Beklemyshev said is amazing.
The problem of the donor blood has existed for a long time. The problem has to do with the dependence on donors, the difficulty of its storage and transportation, the relation between blood groups, the probability of contracting HIV, hepatitis C, etc. Many scientists of the most advanced countries tried to resolve these problems, trying to create artificial blood. Some of them succeeded.
But the real progress has been made in the USSR in the 80s. The starting point was the war in Afghanistan. It required a lot of blood for the transfusion of injured people.
When the first sample of blood of bluish color was created, the artificial blood was called "blue blood". Its main task was to give oxygen to the internal organs of a human being.
The creation of new medicine is a lengthy process. It is necessary to implement laboratory, preclinical and clinical tests that can last sometimes for decades. So in the Soviet Union it was decided to produce an urgently needed medication, called Perftoran, for the medical use in an expeditious manner. The Perftoran was biocompatible, it did not depend on blood groups and was free from viruses. So, that’s how the war helped a new medicine to be created.
The foreign similar drugs are still in the stage of clinical tests. During 25-year practical use of Perftoran research results of vital importance have been accumulated that gave the opportunity to reveal its positive and negative sides.
The Perftoran’s main disadvantage is its slow extraction from the body.
The Perftoran’s second problem is that it must be stored in a freeze, at a temperature below -18 degrees. This can be done only in hospital. So it is not possible to provide the ambulance with Perftoran, where it is often most needed.
The third disadvantage is that Perftoran is hardly accessible for small capillaries. Roughly speaking, the size of the "ball" is big. So, what is Perftoran? This is an emulsion of a fluorinated compound in saline.
The Viavitalis's specialists set a goal to produce a medicine that would be free of the disadvantages mentioned above.
Surpassing the competitors
This project involved specialists of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Pushchino and NGOs "P & M-Invest". The founder of this company, Professor S. M. Igumnov previously worked at the Institute of Organoelement Compounds after A.N. Nesmanova RAN, where Perftoran was produced.
The Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA of Russia), which is the responsible for artificial blood issues in the country as a potential strategic partner has given a positive conclusion.
In particular, it states: "...According to the experts of FMBA of Russia the study of new domestic blood substitutes based on perfluorinated compounds is of a huge importance for both medical science and practical public health. FMBA of Russia is very interested in introducing these innovative blood substitutes into medical practice and finds that it would be appropriate to do a scientific research…. It is necessary to do a number of chemical analysis, pharmaceutical, experimental and clinical studies. In case of appropriate donor funding FMBA of Russia is ready to participate in the implementation of the above mentioned scientific studies with the help of corresponding organizations
In order to solve the problem of acceleration of the extraction process of the medicine from the body the scientists started the synthesis of perfluorinated bromine-containing compounds. The foreign colleagues and competitors also moved forward this direction .
But there is one small detail that allows our scientists to get ahead of them. The formula of a compound that is used by Western scholars falls under the prohibition of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. It does not meet the requirements of the international legislation on environmental protection. The Convention shall enter into force in 2015.
Bromine-containing perfluorocarbons are very stable, inert, they can not be destroyed under high temperatures and acids and are not resolved in the environment. Such compounds are not only used in medicine but also in microelectronics. But starting from 2015, their production will be banned. This will be a serious shock for the medicine producers of US, Europe and Japan.
The team of our chemists managed to change the structure of the molecule in such way that it would become biodegradable and the Russian innovation would no longer be banned.
The time for this innovation is eight years, so we are considerably ahead of our competitors and not taking an advantage of it would be a crime .
The most important thing is that the main issue has been solved. The new medicine, called Oksagem, can be stored at a temperature - 2-4 below zero degrees, which means that having thermos in the ambulance will be just enough.
Furthermore, it solves other problems as well, for example, international missions related to Mars. Besides a number of technical, psycho physiological and other problems, there must be a blood bank taking into consideration that anything can happen and where to get help -from?. Oksagem solves this problem. Or any manmade or natural disaster with many victims. How many people have died due to lack of blood and plasma? Oksagem solves this issue as well, as it can be stored for a long period of time which means , it can be stored in large quantities.
Oksagem can be used for a storage of artificial and donor organ as well. As it is known organs must not be frozen, so Oksagem solves this problem too. Plus, like any emulsion Oksagem provides human bodies not only with oxygen, but also take the dirt out of them, it can be used to clean the body. The use of Oksagem in these areas along with its main characteristic make Oksagem unique and gives us considerable benefits when communicating with investors
International cooperation
What is happening now is very difficult to overestimate. The company Viavitalis has focused on international cooperation before, but the outcome related to the "blue blood" is simply outstanding.
The European Union countries are increasing sanctions against Russia, especially in the high-tech field, meanwhile this medicine represented by the Russian company arouses great interest in Europe.
In November 2014 Oksagem was presented at the world's largest salon of innovations in Seoul attended by 34 countries of the Pacific region, Africa, Australia and Europe. The producers of Oksagem participated in the classification of "medicine" and received the Grand Prix.
More recently, in Brussels the project of Viavitalis received the highest European award for achievements in international inventive activity – Order of Grand Propertius+.
The Viavitalis has involved Western investors and its partner in the development of the medicine. On 28 March a delegation of medicine and art arrived in Moscow from Spain. The head of the delegation was Sr. Luis Barbera Zapatero the president of the law firm, former honorary consul, lecturer at the State University, the members of the delegation were Sra.Gayane Khachatryan Melikyan, Sr. Juan Emilio Mengual Prades, Sr. Lopez Garcia Jesus Valentin, Sr. Antonio Jose Castro Martin, Sr.Molla Barbera Francisco Javier.
The Russian side was represented by the leadership of Viavitalis, the guests were greeted by Alexander Petrov, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the member of the Committee on Health. He said that Russia needs this medicine, but first of all the humanity needs it. He promised to help in anything he could.
It is worth mentioning that the meeting was held in the refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. As it is stated by Viavitalis - the project was approved by ROC. The blood issue for the church is sacred and Spain is known to be a very religious country. So, the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church will be welcome . The results of the meeting are very promising. Spanish people believe that Oksagem has a great future and are willing to create an international foundation for its promotion. Moreover, a preliminary agreement has been reached with the Spanish delegation.
The Viavitalis plans to conduct international clinical tests on Oksagem. This idea was approved by the FMBA of Russia.
If everything goes as it has been planned, Russia will internationally get advanced technology in the field of blood substitutes. Thousands of lives will be saved, and Russia will return to the league of advanced medical technologies and show that these sanctions are just the game of politicians.
P.S. When the article was already ready, we learned that the leadership of Viavitalis went to Paris to take part in the ceremony of UNESCO which awarded the strategic partner of Viavitalis Michael Selyanina "For the contribution to the development of nescience and nontechnology and in the development of anticancer medicine of the new generation”. We contacted Vladimir Solodovnikov and he told us that he had a meeting in Paris with Irina Bokova General Director of UNESCO, Eleonora Mitrofanova-the representative of Russia in UNESCO, Igor Shpynovym -director of the Russian House of Science and Culture in Paris and Vyacheslav Chereshnev-the chairman of the State Duma Committee for Science and High Technology. They discussed the idea of creating the international foundation by UNESCO, as well as the participation of France in the creation of the Foundation. A general agreement was reached and the head of UNESCO promised to promote the internationally important projects of the Foundation to create a blood substitute and autovaccines against kidney cancer.