Union State technologies to produce medicines, food from human lactoferrin

Technologies which make it possible to get medicines and foodstuffs from human lactoferrin have been developed in line with the Union State program BelRusTransgen-2. The statement was made during the session of the board of the supreme financial control bodies of Belarus and Russia, which is underway in Minsk, BelTA has learnt.

The session of the board of the State Control Committee of Belarus and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation discussed the use of funds allocated in 2009-2013 for the implementation of the joint Union State program BelRusTransgen-2. The program is designed to develop technologies and set up a trial production of foodstuffs and safe high-efficient next-generation biologically safe medicines based on human lactoferrin.

Deputy Chairwoman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Vera Chistova said that an audit to assess the effectiveness of the use of funds from the Union State budget had been carried out for the first time. She thinks this area is promising because it “not only allows detecting and assessing drawbacks but also giving recommendations and suggesting possible solutions.”

Chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus Alexander Yakobson said that the joint activities are an authoritative expert assessment designed to show how effectively Union State funds are used. “Our inspections show that a number of problems have not been solved, that there are some drawbacks and in some cases even violations,” he underscored.

The implementation of the program BelRusTransgen-2 concluded in 2013. The program was ordered by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) and the Belarusian Healthcare Ministry. Main executives of the program are the Science-to-practice Center of Animal Breeding (Zhodino) and the Institute of Gene Biology (Moscow). In 2011-2013, the financing of the program from the Union State budget amounted to RUB491.2 million (98.2% from the target figure). The goal of the program is to develop technologies to get next-generation medicines and foodstuffs and set up their trial production.

Chairman of the Presidium of the NASB Vladimir Gusakov noted that the goal of the program was reached: technologies to get medicines and foodstuffs from human lactoferrin have been developed. “A basis for hi-tech and knowledge-intensive biopharmaceutical production has been created,” he underlined noting that the Belarusian side of the team had secured a number of most significant results.

It should be noted that during the implementation of the program a herd of transgenic animals has been created. There are 56 such animals in Russia and 152 animals in Belarus.

Some 2,841g of lactoferrin was obtained from 4,059l of milk by the Russian Federation (the protein/milk ratio is 0.7g/l). Belarus obtained 880.4g of lactoferrin from 843.9l (1.04g/l).

At the same time several drawbacks have been detected. In 2009-2013 the Institute of Gene Biology worked out ten new genetic constructs. But it was not Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science or the Institute of Gene Biology but OOO Transgenform who was the patentee of some of these constructs and applicant for the way of dividing human’s and goat’s lactoferrin with the help of differential immunoaffine chromatography with the use of special mini-antibodies with the same name. An agreement on transferring exclusive rights for the patent to the Russian Federation, on which behalf the Ministry of Education and Science or the Institute of Gene Biology act, was prepared only during the inspection.

Some violations were connected with the use of funds of the Union State budget when implementing the program. In particular, RUB12.4 million from the Russian part of the funds was redistributed among several parts of the program.

Some funds were used inappropriately and ineffectively. The center for animal breeding spent RUB68,500 for purposes which were not connected with the implementation of the program. All in all, RUB649,600 was used for inappropriate purposes in Russia.

In Belarus some measures the program specifies were not carried out. The construction of a new biotechnological complex with an experimental goat breeding farm (the construction progress was 42%) and the building of an experimental processing module with trial production facilities have not been completed.

Expert of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexander Zhdankov noted with regret that the client had not ensured control over the implementation of the program and had not set any guidelines. “The program was managed in a spontaneous manner, there was no understanding between its participants and the Permanent Committee of the Union State,” the expert said. However, he is convinced that the work should be continued. “Currently human lactoferrin as a commodity item does not exist in the world market. Our scientists have made it possible to produce high-quality lactoferrin. We just cannot miss the chance to occupy our niche in the world market. Technologies should work and generate profit,” Alexander Zhdankov said.

The meeting participants discussed the effectiveness of the implementation of the BelRusTransgen-2 program and exchanged views on the possibility of continuing the program’s implementation. In particular they touched upon the ways to attract investors.