CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Cuba Develops World’s First Therapeutic Vaccine against Lung Cancer.

CUBA, September 8th, 2011.- Cuba has registered the world’s first therapeutic vaccine against advanced lung cancer. Successful clinical tests have proven the efficacy of the vaccine, which will be marketed on the island under the name Cimavax-EGF.

Unlike traditional treatments, which focused on chemo and radiation therapy that are nonspecific and attack both infected and healthy cells, "CIMAVAX-EGF" acts directly on the malignant tumor,

The vaccine is administered after conventional therapy when the patient is considered terminally ill and without any other therapeutic alternative.

According to experts, "CIMAVAX-EGF" converts the advanced tumor into a controllable chronic disease.

The effect is a decrease in tumor growth, depending upon each patient's response.

According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer kills over 1 million smokers -- mostly people over 50 years of age with a history of cigarette smoking -- and 600,000 others die from passive smoking each year.

Researchers from the Havana-based Molecular Immunology Center announced that they are already assessing the use of the medicine in the treatment of other types of cancer.

In spite of being a small, poor Caribbean island nation, Cuba has gained significant achievements over the past several years in the field of medicine and biotechnology that have culminated in the development of vaccines against such serious illnesses as meningitis B and C, leptospirosis and typhoid fever, among others.

Cuba produces 38 different medicines annually of proven efficacy that are marketed in some 40 nations around the world.

The hard work and high professionalism of Cuban scientists, together with the fully-demonstrated political will of the island’s government have made it possible to develop this new vaccine for the benefit of patients in Cuba and abroad.

Developed by the Molecular Immunology Centre and the Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Centre after 15 years of research, the new vaccine against lung cancer constitutes a major Cuban contribution to improve the quality of life of millions of people the world over. (Cubaminrex-RHC)