Cuba has approved what is believed to be the world’s first registered lung cancer vaccine and is offering it to Cuban and foreign patients in its hospitals.
CimaVax EGF has been shown to extend patients’ lives with few side effects, marking another step in Cuba’s emergence as an important player in biotechnology.
The therapeutic vaccine, unveiled on Monday at a media conference at Havana’s Centre of Molecular Immunology, has been shown to boost survival rates by an average of four to five months and in some cases much longer.
It does not prevent lung cancer. Unlike chemotherapy, CimaVax EGF is said to have few side effects because it is a modified protein which attacks only cancer cells.
“It’s the first vaccine for lung cancer registered in the world,” said Gisela Gonzalez, who headed the vaccine’s development, a project launched in 1992.
The drug is in various stages of clinical trials, including some in Canada and Britain. It is expected to be approved next in Peru. Several private companies had been licensed to market the vaccine but it will be made in Cuba, said Gonzalez. It has been approved for clinical trial in the United States but possible use there is at least two years away, she added.
The vaccine triggers an immune response which, in addition to extending life, can ease symptoms such as difficulty breathing and lack of appetite.
The idea was to “maintain or consolidate” the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Tania Crombet, director of clinical investigations at the immunology centre, said foreigners were welcome to go for treatment, though its cost had not yet been determined. “It’s possible to provide this vaccine to any patient. Because it’s available in Cuba, it’s approved by the Cuban drug agency so we can market the vaccine in Cuba and we can receive patients from outside.”
Cuba has converted its abundance of doctors and clinics into a foreign currency spin-off by drawing thousands of overseas patients each year. Its scientists are generally seen as serious researchers who produce results on shoestring budgets.–