Russian-Finnish Collaboration in Drug Development Productive
On Thursday 25 October, a Russian-Finnish symposium presenting the countries’ collaboration in drug development was organised for the fifth time. During the symposium, presentations on collaboration projects and the possibilities and challenges of the present and the future of the drug industry were given.
Firstly, Doctor M. Povydysh presented the current state and already obtained results of the collaboration between the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University, and Saint Petersburg State Chemical Pharmaceutical Academy (SPCPA). Doctor Povydysh is the Director of the research and development operations of SPCPA.
In addition to the symposium series on drug development, the universities’ researchers have several ongoing joint projects, first results of which have already been reported in international publication series.
Doctor M. Povydysh presented the current state and already obtained results of the collaboration between the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University, and Saint Petersburg State Chemical Pharmaceutical Academy (SPCPA).
In August this year, education co-operation was initiated, too, when students and teachers from Turku participated in a field course on medicinal plants organised in Saint Petersburg and a demonstration farm in Lembolovo as a collaboration between Turku and Saint Petersburg and supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland and by First funding from CIMO. Having praised the collaboration, M. Povydysh wished that the co-operation between Turku and Saint Petersburg would continue effectively in the future, too.
The symposium particularly focused on the development, properties and safety of biological drugs. In the morning, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Turku Marko Salmi gave a presentation on developing therapeutic antibodies and using them in cancer treatment, for example.
Professor Marko Salmi giving a lecture on therapeutic antibodies.
Therapeutic antibodies constitute a rather new group of drugs that is growing remarkably rapidly. In Finland, about fifty therapeutic antibodies are currently being used in hospitals. Currently, there are approximately two thousand clinical tests are being carried out globally, so new drugs from this group can be expected every year.
The next symposium of the series will be organised in Saint Petersburg in autumn 2019.
KK/AJ