Cimavax-EGF, a Cuban therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of lung cancer, conquers the scientific community and the population of the United States on the basis of the achievements compiled in studies carried out.
The vaccine was obtained after more than twenty years of research and has shown satisfactory results in patients in advanced stages of lung cancer.
The Cuban Centre for Molecular Immunology and Roswell Park Cancer Research Center in the United States joined forces a few years ago to facilitate access to equipment and reagents in order to promote the development of the drug.
The creation of the only joint venture between Cuba and the United States, the Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance, facilitated Cuba’s access to equipment and reagents that are difficult to obtain because of the limitations of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on socialist Cuba, while the United States can have access to a drug with excellent results and prospects.
Dr Elia Neninger, who participated in the clinical trials of the therapeutic vaccine from the beginning, stated that the drug has two great advantages: few adverse reactions, and a solution to lung cancer, which is a serious health problem in Cuba and around the world.
The deputy director of the Molecular Immunology Center, Kalet León Monzón, said that the patients who have received the vaccine are recovering from advanced tumour cancer and could have the prospect of survival in normal conditions, according to RT.
One of the beneficiaries of the vaccine, Miguel Creus, a patient who began to receive Cimavax fifteen years ago, when the disease was in stage 4 and the vaccine was in clinical trials, confirms that the drug has prolonged his life, with a satisfactory state of health, and that at present he has no traces of tumours or symptoms of the disease.
Despite the detrimental effect of the economic blockade against socialist Cuba, the collaboration between the two institutions continues, and Cimavax overcomes the challenges. At present there are clinical trials that combine this Cuban vaccine with other successful cancer treatments; and their effects in high-risk people or patients in the initial stages of the disease are being studied.
According to some studies, lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, and the deadliest. This Cuban drug could be a promising relief, a good example of the benefits both countries would obtain if they had a normal relationship.
