HEALTH-CUBA:
Lung Cancer Vaccine
Available
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) -
Cuba’s biotech industry
plans to launch on the
international market, in
the short or medium
term, a vaccine for
treating lung cancer,
which causes the deaths
of over one million
people a year worldwide.
Sales in Latin America
of CimaVax EGF, which
can prolong survival and
improve quality of life
in lung cancer patients,
may commence in Peru,
where clinical trials
with a view to
registering the product
in the country are due
to start in August.
The vaccine, developed
by the Centre for
Molecular Immunology (CIM)
in collaboration with
the Centre for Genetic
Engineering and
Biotechnology (CIGB),
was approved on Jun.12
by the Cuban regulatory
authority, CECMED, for
use in hospitals in this
country.
Medical services, even
the most sophisticated,
are provided free to
Cuba’s 11.2 million
people. But in the
1990s, Cuba opened its
doors to health
tourists, which means
that foreigners could
come to this Caribbean
island nation to receive
treatment with the
vaccine.
CIM scientists told
reporters on Tuesday
that clinical trials in
more than 400 patients
with advanced lung
cancer showed that
CimaVax EGF has no
serious side-effects,
elicits an immune
response and lengthens
the lives of patients,
as well as improving
their quality of life.
The vaccine has
undergone seven clinical
trials in Cuba, Canada
and the United Kingdom,
and is presently being
used in three further
trials, two in Cuba and
one in Malaysia. Gisela
González, a CIM expert,
said that trials are
also due to start this
year in China.
The vaccine consists of
a protein, epidermal
growth factor (EGF),
combined with another
protein that enhances
the patient’s immune
response against EGF.
When EGF binds to its
specific receptor on
cell membranes, it
triggers the cell
proliferation mechanism,
which is augmented in
the case of tumours.
"Upon vaccination, the
body produces antibodies
that recognise and bind
specifically to EGF,
preventing the protein
from binding to its
receptor and initiating
cell proliferation. As a
result, tumour growth is
slowed, to an extent
that depends on each
patient’s individual
response," a press
release said. González,
who headed the project
that began in 1992, said
this is the first
vaccine for lung cancer
to be registered
anywhere in the world.
CimaVax EGF has been
patented in Cuba,
Canada, Japan, South
Africa and the United
States, among other
countries.
The researcher said that
sales of the vaccine
abroad will be
undertaken by different
foreign companies
through arrangement with
Cuba. The Bioven company
in Malaysia will cover
the market in that
country and the rest of
Southeast Asia, while YM
BioSciences of Canada
may handle distribution
in North America and
Europe.
But the vaccine will
continue to be produced
in Cuban laboratories,
said González, who added
that exports will depend
on the results of
clinical assays and on
obtaining registration
of the vaccine in each
and every interested
country.
Special authorisation
granted by the U.S.
Treasury Department in
2004 permits
distribution of the
vaccine in the United
States, but YM
BioSciences needs to
complete the clinical
trials that were left
unfinished due to the
bankruptcy of U.S. firm
CancerVac, the holder of
the permit.
CIM scientists hope that
the vaccine’s
registration in Cuba
will provide an
incentive for carrying
out the U.S. clinical
trials, which are
expected to cost about
20 million dollars.
A U.S. law passed in
2000 authorised sales of
food to Cuba, despite
the nearly half-decade
U.S. embargo.
CIM and CIGB are part of
the West Havana
Scientific Pole, which
includes the Finlay
Institute of Serum and
Vaccines, the
Immunoassay Centre (CIE),
the National Centre for
Scientific Research (CNIC),
and the National
Bio-preparations Centre
(BIOCEN).
These biotech centres
carry out the complete
product cycle, from R&D
to marketing and
assessing the impact on
health. In total, the
country has more than
120 scientific research
centres, employing about
30,000 people.
Opened in 1994, CIM is
devoted to manufacturing
biopharmaceuticals for
the treatment of cancer
and other chronic,
non-infectious diseases,
to be used in the Cuban
public health system. At
the same time it
endeavours to make its
scientific and
productive activities
self-sufficient, and to
make important
contributions to the
country’s economy.
Since the early 1980s,
the government
determined that
biotechnology was a
priority area for Cuba’s
economic and social
development. Its support
for the sector was
maintained even during
the crisis of the 1990s,
caused by the collapse
of the Soviet Union, its
main aid and trade
partner.
According to official
sources, 38 new products
were registered in this
cutting-edge scientific
field in 2007, and in
the same year
biotechnology became the
country’s second most
valuable export category
after nickel.
Exports from CIGB alone
have reached over 340
million dollars since
their début, supplying
countries in Latin
America, Africa,
Oceania, Asia and
Europe. |
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