He played handball for the junior national team, and he left Serbia after the bombing and discovered the drug for cancer: Scientist Vladimir Cmiljanovic for Telegraf

While he was growing up Vladimir Cmiljanovic was playing handball in Kragujevac for the junior national team, and he couldn't even dream that he will one day, not so far in the future, work on the solution of the greatest problem of mankind - finding a drug for cancer. 

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The life story itself of this scientist sounds incredible, just like his mission. Cmiljanovic's successful handball career and the beginning of chemistry studies were interrupted by bombing and going to Germany, where he learns the language during the first year and where he dreams about the continuation of studies, which seemed like a mission impossible at that moment, partly due to lack of money, and partly because of political barriers.

Vladimir Cmiljanovic, Foto: Milena Đorđević

That is when he met the Swiss magnate, the owner of the company "Davidoff" Ernst Schneider and the first man of the handball club who offered to fund his studies for a place in the team. Cmiljanovic accepts this offer, and he met another man on the faculty who is responsible for what he is today, professor Bernd Giese, one of the best world's chemists who was encouraged when his wife got cancer to direct all of his resources in finding a drug for various cancer types.

Together with Cmiljanovic, he starts working on a new enzyme, a lipid kinase, in order to change the treatment method for cancer patients. With the help of Vladimir's sister Natasa, also a PhD in chemistry, they discovered a new substance, the main product of company Piqur.

• What kind of substance that is? How does your medicine work?

This substance blocks two enzymes, one is called PI3K (phosphatidyl-inositol-3-kinase) and another mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycine). These two enzymes control metabolic reactions in cancer cells. To simplify, they control the production of sugar in cancer cells. When we block them with the chemical substance that my sister and I discovered, we also block the production of sugar in cancer cells, and when the cells no longer have sugar glucose, they have no energy, then they begin to die out.

The advantage of this therapy compared to chemotherapy is that we do not kill the immune system, we only kill cancer cells, and we leave the healthy cells, our medicine has no apoptotic (killing) effect on healthy cells, which is not typical for chemotherapy which practically kills both cancer and healthy cells. That's why patients who have different types of cancers are often in very bad shape.

A chemist from Switzerland, Foto: Milena Đorđević

• Patients with cancer, for that reason, keep a strict diet in order to kill cancer cells, right?

I do not advise patients to go on a diet because they are already exhausted from the disease and the treatment they use. I suggest that patients eat everything that is healthy, fresh fruits, vegetables, chicken, everything that is healthy, they should eat all of these groceries. Patients who use our medicine, it just blocks the production of sugar in cancer cells, so we do it chemically, which is much more effective than going on a diet and being tired not only of chemotherapy but also of that diet.

• At what stage is the drug testing?

In phase one, the best possible dose for one drug is defined, and in phase two it is observed how that drug works on various diseases with that maximum tolerated dose. In our case, the drug is in phase two for lymphoma, for all solid tumors with a certain mutation of our enzyme, we had a phase two for glioblastomas, brain cancer, but this study is not currently the number one priority, our focus is on solid tumors and lymphoma because we saw the best effects here.

• How did the drug behave on patients?

All of the patients that we take in our studies around the world, these are patients that no longer have any hope, they have already used all basic medicines, various chemotherapies, and immunotherapies and we are their last hope. We were able to help many, we also couldn't help many others. I am very happy for the patients who did not have any hope and for young mothers whom we could significantly prolong their life.

I am proud that this is a medicine from two Serbian scientists. We have managed to eradicate cancers that metastasized throughout the entire organism and those patients lived two years longer with good quality of life. The next step is to improve the dosing schedule of the drug so that it can be given to patients for an even longer period of time.

The medicine is for cancer that doesn't kill healthy cells, Foto: Pixabay.com

• When can we expect the application of this method of treatment on regular basis?

We need more studies, Serbia and Bosnia have helped us a lot to get patients, so far 250 patients worldwide have been tested. We have promising results. Further clinical studies are needed, I hope that we will be able to perform them in Serbia and it is planned for the medicine to be on the market in few years if everything goes as planned.

• In addition to this drug, you are developing another one which is also aiming to help in the treatment of cancer. What is it?

In addition to Piqur, I am the founder of the company TargImmune; this is the innovative therapy that activates the immune system that then attacks the cancerous cells. It is on the way to start the testing on humans, so far it has been tested on animals, with excellent results. How the medicine works: by inserting RNA into the cancer cells, our immune system recognizes it as a virus and the whole immune system is activated around that cell and begins to attack it.

• Each of us knows someone who has, or who had cancer but we are still not sure how cancer occurs.

Cancer can be of genetic nature. You have all heard that Angelina Jolie, a Hollywood actress, had to remove her ovaries and breasts because some on her side of the family members had a BRCA -1 gene mutation and it's known in this case to have a high probability of causing breast or ovarian cancer.

Those are cancers of genetic nature. There are gene mutations in colorectal cancer as well. Of course, there are some cancers that we get due to sun exposure and UV-radiation, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer. There are also cancers, such as lung cancer, especially in China, which can occur due to air pollution. (so called mesothelioma).

• There are discussions in Serbia about whether depleted uranium causes cancer or not. What do you think?

There are cancers that people get due to radioactive radiation. We always hear that in Kosovo and in parts of Bosnia people often suffer from a certain leukemia, I think that there is radioactive radiation at work and it is very important that we diagnose these patients in time and give them adequate medicine.

There is one place in Bosnia where a radioactive bomb was dropped during the war in Kosovo and it is known that a large part of the population in that village got a type of leukemia. Scientific works are performed in US that attempt to accurately examine what is causing it, and this is presumed to be due to radioactive radiation.

• What can each of us do to reduce the likelihood of getting cancer?

Have a healthy life, walk, eat well - that means a lot of different food, fruits, vegetables, healthy meat, fish, diverse food and try not to smoke. It is very difficult in Serbia, a lot of people smoke. Try to avoid cigarettes because not only do they cause lung cancer, they also cause other cancers.

Cigarettes are very harmful. And move because it is very important for the metabolism of the entire body, and it is very important to balance the stress we have in life, which is a very good prerequisite to have less chance of getting cancer during the lifetime.

Cigarettes cause lung cancer, Foto: Profimedia

• Where should we pay attention regarding our food ?

It is important to take care of what you eat in general. What am I doing with my family in Switzerland - I do not buy a salami that contains nitrate salts because they are known to cause cancer. Search for a product that has some other preservative, it can be vitamin C or something else on a natural basis. It is very hard to get those products in some countries. Our country, which is strong in agriculture, should start thinking how the products are preserved, how to bring organic food to the market without chemicals.

Serbia is remarkable about that, far fewer chemicals are used in Serbia than in western Europe. Many products look fantastic to the eye, but they are not healthy because they are sprayed with certain chemicals and that can cause some types of cancer. I am looking for bioproducts in the market that were not sprayed. The certificate bio means that no harmful chemicals were used for spraying. We have very good organic products in Serbia. When you see an apple with a worm, that is a real apple and a real product.

Be careful what you eat, Foto: Telegraf

• Are any of your plans related to Serbia?

We are currently working on oncology programs and I hope that they will significantly help patients in Serbia. I wish to help by securing various medicines that Serbia doesn't have access to, medicines that can help with certain types of cancers. Unfortunately, our country doesn't have access to many medications. I am working on it with our experts who are professional and experienced, on creating a joint program so we could improve the treatment situation in Serbia.

I am just establishing the third company in Switzerland, it will look everywhere around the world for various innovative medicines that I will develop with a team from Switzerland. I would like to establish a research and development center in Serbia, where there will be laboratories in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, toxicology, where we would do research. That way we could employ all of our smart scientists and doctors who would work on innovative therapies. This is one of the reasons why I am in Belgrade these days, we are currently intensively working on this plan.

(Telegraf.co.uk / Gorica Avalić / g.avalic@telegraf.rs)