Cancer research fund gets about Bt34m, but needs more
The amount donated to Chulalongkorn University’s (CU) research into “biologic” medication, which can help boost the human immune system to combat cancer, rose to Bt33,727,121 as of Monday.
Such a large sum already donated to the Cancer Immunotherapy Fund to back the research has made many people more confident that the team will succeed by the year 2023 in producing a locally developed biologic medication.
If that goal could be achieved, the cost of immunotheraphy medication could fall from Bt200,000 – from the current use of imported medicine – to Bt20,000 per dose.
According to CU Systems Biology Centre director Dr Trairak Pisitkun, who is one of the project’s three principal researchers, the entire research effort would need at least another Bt1 billion.
The project comprises five phases, the first of which was conducted over the past two years and was funded by CU’s own budget of Bt100 million.
The second phase, which starts later this month and is scheduled to last for 12 months, requires Bt10 million, Trairak said, while the third phase, which requires another Bt200 million and will last 18-24 months, will begin late next year.
The fourth phase, scheduled to commence in 2022, would require Bt100 million-Bt200 million, and the fifth and final phase, starting in 2023, would involve tests on human subjects and require another Bt1 billion of funding, he explained.
Donations can be made via the CU Cancer Immunotherapy Fund’s Siam Commercial Bank savings account: 408-004443-4.