U.S. pharmaceutical company MSD, known as Merck&Co in the United States and Canada, plans to supply a first immuno-oncological medicine to Ukraine by late April.

Head of the innovative medicine department at MSD Ukraine Marharyta Ohnivenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday that this medicine was registered in the United States in 2014 and in Ukraine – in October 2016.

"We hope that at the end of April this medicine will be available in Ukraine," she said.

She said that immuno-oncological medicines are newest medicines to treat cancer. They show good efficiency to treat late stages of cancer.

She said that the medicine was registered in Ukraine using the relaxed registration procedure.

She said that the cost of the medicine is high. The price of one 100 mg vial will be around $4,000. Two vials are required for one introduction of the preparation.

Ohnivenko said that there is no data when the treatment can be stopped.

"Trials are underway [the medicine was registered in 2013]. There are results showing that even several doses permit organism to fight cancer. There is no exact answer if the introduction of preparation can be stopped after five or ten injections. There are results showing that even the stoppage of the injections does not stop fight against cancer," she said.

She said that the high cost of the medicine puts its placing to the public procurement list under doubt. However, MSD Ukraine is ready to hold a dialog with the state to increase access of more patients to the therapy.

The medicine will be available in the specialized pharmacies in each region of Ukraine.

The price in Ukraine will be lower than in Europe and neighbor countries, including Russia.

The medicine is protected by patent and in next ten years no generics will be made.