Turkey Should Develop and Produce Its Own National Medicine

PRIMO (Practical Recommendations in Immuno and Molecular Oncology), long established in the United States under the leadership of Prof. Sanjiv Agarwala, Head of Oncology at St Luke's Cancer Center, as a congress discussing the newest and most current topics in clinical oncology, this year held its first gathering in Turkey under the same name as PRIMO Turkey, under the auspices of the Cancer Immunotherapy Society and led by Associate Prof. Burçak Karaca from Ege University Medical Oncology Department. Scientists from St. Luke's Cancer Center in the USA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute in America, the National Cancer Institute, G. Pascale Tumor Institute from Italy, Slovenia National Cancer Institute, DevaCell company from California, and medical schools from Ege University, Ankara University and İzmir Ekonomi University from Turkey participated in the international meeting, where immunotherapy options—which open a serious door of hope for several fatal cancer types and have rewritten treatment algorithms for some cancer types in recent years—personalized molecular therapies were discussed at both clinical and experimental levels.

"With the Concept of Immuno-Oncology, the Idea of Providing Complete Cure to Patients Regardless of Disease Stage Has Come to the Agenda…"

Associate Prof. Burçak Karaca from the Cancer Immunotherapy Society, noting that Primo 2018 Turkey emerged as an important fruit of international cooperation for Turkish science and oncology, stated: "With the concept of immuno-oncology, the idea of providing complete cure to patients regardless of disease stage has come to the agenda in cancer treatment. This is a revolutionary process that is extremely important for cancer. Because the basis for us is the stage of cancer. If it is early stage, our job is usually easier. However, in relatively poor developing countries like ours, some cancers that could be caught at an early stage are often not caught early, and are usually caught at an advanced stage. When caught at an advanced stage, what we have fundamentally been doing so far is to extend the patient's life as comfortably as possible. But with immuno-oncology, an entirely different concept has entered. Through a group of therapies targeting the immune system that can now provide complete cure to patients even at advanced stages; our entire approach to cancer treatment has changed and been reshaped. This treatment currently works extremely well in melanoma, lung, bladder, renal cell carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, brain tumors and some types of leukemias," he said.

"We Must Certainly Develop and Produce Our Own National Drugs and Sustain Ourselves…"

Associate Prof. Burçak Karaca, emphasizing that Centers of Excellence must be established in Turkey—just as in Europe and the USA—that both treat specific cancer types and conduct clinical and laboratory research, and noting that this would dramatically increase the chances of success in cancer, stated: "Drugs used in cancer treatment are very expensive. Unfortunately, we are purchasing and using drugs developed abroad. If we continue to be dependent on foreign drugs, at some point our economy cannot sustain it. We must certainly develop and produce our own national drugs and maintain our independence. We have no shortage in terms of theoretical knowledge, we have physical infrastructure and sufficient resources. Our only shortcoming is the inability to bring together sufficiently qualified people and have them work together, and to financially link the interdisciplinary gaps in the drug development process," he said.