Life Line wants to set a precedent in Europe after Miltenyi Biotec refuses to supply cell preparations to Russia

Faina Zakharova, President of the Life Line Foundation, spoke about attempts to circumvent restrictions on the supply of cell preparations to Russia, established by the German company Miltenyi Biotec in connection with the situation in Ukraine. According to her, the refusal to supply complicated the treatment of children with diseases of the bone marrow, the fund tried to change the situation, including with the help of other companies from Germany, but failed to achieve results. Life Line turned to lawyers, and now they are preparing a case based on this story, the foundation would like to create a precedent in Europe on this issue.

As Mrs. Zakharova said at the session, “Charity: the new reality of the sector”As part of a conference organized by Kommersant, before the cessation of supplies, the fund began to support apheresis, a procedure in which diseased bone marrow cells of a child are separated from healthy ones and healthy ones are returned to the patient. Apheresis is impossible without cell preparations, which were supplied by the monopoly company Miltenyi Biotec.

“We tried and workarounds (to use). Other German companies, Swiss companies, Chinese companies joined in. As a result, we did not succeed. They just stood up like a wall, tough and open, and said: “We are not interested in the lives of your children,” said the head of the foundation. According to her, the fate of the case, which is now being prepared by lawyers, is still unclear. “In any case, we want to create such a precedent,” she said.

According to her, problems with the supply of medical equipment from abroad arise, but they are being solved: Germany should deliver equipment that “teaches” the child’s immune cells to look for tumors (CAR-T cell therapy), the United States made an exception for medical equipment, removed it from the sanctions.

The fact that the German Miltenyi Biotec suspended the supply of technologies and equipment for cell therapy for oncohematological patients and bone marrow transplantation was reported to Kommersant in March 2022. The Ministry of Health then announced that in Russia “in the near future” their own cellular technologies that do not depend on foreign components will be able to be used.

More details – in the material “Kommersant”Cell therapy left without technology“.