Russia Announces Plans to Release Cancer Vaccine in 2025

Russian officials have made a shocking announcement, telling residents of the country that the Ministry of Health has developed a cancer vaccine.

The news was revealed on a state-owned radio station, along with a potential timeline for citizens hoping to get their hands on the injectable.

There doesn't appear to be much public information about the Russian cancer vaccine yet, including the details on who will get it and how effective it will be.

Here's everything we know so far about the claims that Russia has developed a cancer vaccine.

According to Newsweek, the news was shared on TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency. During the broadcast, the radio station told listeners that the vaccine would be made available near the start of 2025.

Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology director Alexander Gintsburg previously told TASS that the vaccination would be able to put a halt to the growth and spread of existing cancer cells, but it doesn't sound like this vaccine will be effective at preventing cancer at this time.

CNBC affiliate TV18 reports that the vaccine is an mRNA variety, and it has already run through pre-clinical trials with great success.

For those who are unfamiliar, these types of vaccines use existing RNA to send a message to the body, signaling it to produce a certain protein, which the body sees as an enemy, and it sends antibodies to fight it. When it comes to using mRNA in cancer vaccines, those antibodies are specifically designed to target cancer cells.

Not much else has been shared with the general public. Newsweek notes that neither of the medical associations affiliated with the vaccine had responded to requests for more information.

We don't yet know whether or not the vaccine will only target certain cancers, or if it can be used on a variety of diseases. Additionally, no one has elaborated on the effectiveness of the vaccine or even so much as shared its name.

That said, several other countries are working on similar shots, including the U.K., which has been working with Merck & Co and Moderna on a vaccine targeted towards skin cancer, per the Guardian.

Some pharmaceutical companies have already brought products to market, like the vaccination for human papillomaviruses (HPV), which has become a standard part of childhood vaccinations since its release. 

The good news is that Russian cancer patients aren't going to have to worry about forking over their life's savings in order to get access to the vaccine. Instead, the plan is for the medical community to administer the shot for free to existing cancer patients, which they will identify and treat through a yet-to-be-explained process.  

Hopefully, there will be more information released about the vaccine soon, including how cancer patients in other countries can get their hands on it. If the Russian medical community is correct this could be a game changer for many people.