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Lithuania to use revolutionary technology on treatment for cancer

Xinhua, December 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A new laboratory opened in Lithuania on Monday has made the country the first to use a unique technology in cancer and HIV treatment.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, a U.S. based life sciences company, has opened a new aseptic processing laboratory at its Molecular Biology Center of Excellence in Vilnius, Lithuanian capital.

The new laboratory will produce Dynabeads, the magnetic beads. Coated with antibodies the magnetic beads stimulate lymphocytes, enabling the patient's cells to fight cancer and prevent metastasis. The company expects the new technology will replace conventional treatment methods to treat cancer.

Representatives of the company said the opening marks the new start of its subsidiary in Vilnius.

"This is a technology which will allow creating cancer drugs," Algimantas Markauskas, vice president and the general manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, was quoted as saying by news website lrytas.lt at the opening ceremony.

The new cancer treatment method will be used for clinical trials and not for commercial use, reported business news website vz.lt.

Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, who attended the opening of the new laboratory emphasized the country is the first and the only so far in the world starting to produce such technology.

"Because of your diligence, your mind, your loyalty and your skills, Lithuania, the first in the world, starts producing the product which has never been made by others, which can save many people," Grybauskaite was quoted as saying to the audience by Lithuanian National Radio LRT.

Up to 7 million dollars have been invested in the new facility based on the agreement with Lithuanian government. The investment is to create 100 new jobs by 2017. Currently, the company employs 570 people in Vilnius. 90 of them are researchers.

Thermo Fisher Scientific entered Lithuania in 2010 after acquiring local company Fermentas. Endit