ARMENIAN NATIONAL CENTER OF ONCOLOGY DEVELOPS NEW METHOD OF BRAIN TUMOR TREATMENT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 30 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian National Center
of Oncology has developed a biodegrable polymeric film (BPF) to
deliver local chemotherapy agents for the brain tumor treatment
purposes. Levon Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the center, stated
this. According to him, about 350 people are diagnosed as having a
brain tumor in Armenia annually, and about 200 die of this disease. In
the US, these indices make about 17.5 thousand and 12 thousand people
respectively. L. Harutyunyan said that the three-layer film developed
by their center is put at the place of the tumor removed from the brain
and is absorbed, thus securing the effective impact of the medicine
contained in the film (without any undesirable results). In his words,
the use of such methods for brain tumor treatment has just started in
international practice: particularly, the polymeric sponges developed
by the medical center of Baltimore University are not for market sale
and have been used in 500-600 patients.

Attempts to use polymeric films for brain tumor treatment have also
been made at John Hopkins Clinic, but, in the words of L. Harutyunian,
without much success, because these films tend to become active in
the liver, from where the intended substance reaches the brain with
difficulty. He said that films developed by their center have been
tested on animals and are now being used in the treatment of four
patients. It was mentioned that the cost price of a film developed
by the center makes 40 dollars, which is much lower than the prices
of similar ones used abroad. L. Harutyunyan noted that in case of
creating a laboratory with modern equipment in the center’s area
of 60 square meters, it will be possible to synthesize 12 thousand
organic polymeric films and make a net profit of 300 thousand dollars
a year. The center plans to cooperate with Nairit-2 OJSC for production
of the film’s polymeric components.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress