Russia stops export of human clinical specimens

Moscow, May 31 (UNI) Russian Federal Customs Service has stopped the export of human clinical specimens, including blood samples and other biological material, due to the threat posed by bio-terrorism.

Russian media reports said the decision will put the lives of hundreds of sick people at risk.

Biological samples, usually blood or plasma, are often sent abroad to help patients find bone marrow donors. They are also used for research purposes in clinical drug trials.

There is no database for bone marrow transplants in Russia. As a result, a bone marrow cancer patient is required to send samples abroad to find a match for a transplant.

The move could affect dozens of patients and paralyse the Russian market for foreign clinical tests, which experts estimate to cost upto 150 million dollars, leading business daily Kommersant said.

The paper said the decision came after a report on bio-terrorism submitted by the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) to President Vladimir Putin, early this month, which cited examples of major foreign medical centres using biological samples to develop genetic, "ethnically oriented" weapons.

Courier services DHL and TNT Express in Russia informed their clients this week that the suspension, effective as of May 29, was imposed by the Federal Customs Service, the paper said, adding that a government resolution to this effect was signed by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov on May 22.

Experts warned that the move would affect patients. "If this is true, it is an artillery strike against us," Alexei Mashchan, deputy head of the Pediatric Oncohematological Center, told Kommersant.

A large share of clinical trials for Russian patients have been conducted abroad, for example in Germany for bone marrow donors, the daily said.

UNI