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Cuban Pharmaceutical

Cuba will begin clinical trials with drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease

Cuba will begin clinical trials with drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease
For the first time in Cuba, the patient will undergo a molecular and a clinical diagnosis for this disease.

Author: Gladys Leydis Ramos López | internet@granma.cu
july 20, 2022 11:07:49

Cuba will soon begin a Phase III clinical trial of NeuralCIM, the commercial name of NeuroEPO, the Cuban drug against Alzheimer’s disease, for which the classification of the patients who will participate in the study began in Havana

Although this preliminary screening does not mean the full start of the clinical trial, it is an important step to advance in the correct diagnosis of patients and in the identification of the population to be included, explained to the press Dr. Kalet León Monzón, first deputy director of the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM).

Patients interested in being evaluated to be included in the clinical trial can request an appointment in the Medical-Surgical Research Center (CIMEQ), and the Salvador Allende, Manuel Fajardo and Hermanos Ameijeiras hospitals, and the Institute of Neurology.

Dr. Leslie Perez Ruiz, promoter of the Alzheimer clinical trial at the CIM, explained that there is currently a database of more than 400 patients, of which 371 are from Havana.

She stated that they have located 310 of the caregivers, who can call and are assigned an appointment for a consultation, which will identify whether the patient has a mild/moderate Alzheimer’s pattern.

According to Dr. Perez Ruiz, phase III of the study is likely to begin next September or October and seeks to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this nasal administration formulation.

In this regard, she explained that NeuralCIM will be compared with Donepezil, a drug approved since by the U.S. Drug Regulatory Agency the 1990s. Meanwhile, for the first time in Cuba, the patient will undergo a molecular and a clinical diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease.

She said that a phase IV trial will be carried out in the rest of the country, in patients with mild/moderate phenotype of the disease (amnesic variant), and whose diagnosis will only be clinical.

Dr. Perez Ruiz also stated that the drug will be applied by the caregiver at home, who will be trained in the health institutions for the correct administration of NeuralCIM.

Translated by ESTI

Cuban Pharmaceutical

No Cuban child died of COVID-19 after vaccination campaign


No Cuban child died of COVID-19 after vaccination campaign
Before the vaccination campaign in children started, 18 infants between the ages of two and 18 years old had unfortunately lost their lives to COVID-19. No child died of this terrible disease in Cuba after the vaccination campaign in this population group began.

Author: Leticia Martínez | informacion@granma.cu
july 20, 2022 10:07:07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Ismael Batista
Before the vaccination campaign in children started, 18 infants between the ages of two and 18 years old had unfortunately lost their lives to COVID-19. No child died of this terrible disease in Cuba after the vaccination campaign in this population group began. This is the most relevant result of the Cuban vaccine Soberana, an immunogen of the Finlay Vaccine Institute.

Precisely, the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine presented the closing of the evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of the pediatric vaccination against COVID-19 in the country during the Tuesday meeting with the President of the Republic.

According to IPK doctor, María Eugenia Toledo Romaní, Soberana’s main researcher, it was determined after a rigorous study that the effectiveness of the vaccine in the prevention of the symptomatic disease COVID-19 in children from two to five years old was 90.1 % during the Omicron wave in Cuba.

Meanwhile, the effectiveness of vaccination with Soberana in the prevention of severe COVID-19 disease in children aged two to 18 years was 95.8%.

This mean that there were more than 63,600 less cases, said the IPK specialist. This also means that more than 63,000 children and young people were prevented from transmitting the disease, which undoubtedly contributed to the control of the coronavirus epidemic in the country, said Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director of the IFV.

On this highly sensitive issue for the Cuban family, the President of the Republic considered the campaign was also decisive for the restart of the school year and, therefore, to resume normality in the lives of children. The vaccination has made possible the normal course and lack of complications in schools, said the Head of State.

In this meeting with the experts form the Ministry of Health (MINSAP), Vérez Bencomo detailed to the country’s leadership the technological transfer of the production of Soberana vaccine to the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a scientific process equally successful in those distant lands.

US World Hegemony

The world calls for peace and food, NATO for more weapons and military bases

The world calls for peace and food, NATO for more weapons and military bases.
Between January and May 2022 alone, the United States has committed more than $40 billion in support to Ukraine in the context of the war, and the European Union more than 27 billion euros; however, to address the current food crisis, the West has contributed just $5 billion to UN efforts

Author: Francisco Arias Fernández | informacion@granmai.cu
july 13, 2022 10:07:27

While the world needs and asks for peace, demands food, fuel and fertilizer at lower prices, the drums of war redouble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Taken from pressenza.com


Recently, the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, warned that the world is going through an “unprecedented global hunger crisis,” affecting hundreds of millions of people; a catastrophe caused by food shortages resulting from the impacts of climate change, the years of the coronavirus pandemic, inequality, poverty, the world crisis, the war in Ukraine and sanctions policies.

He stressed out that no country will be immune to its social and economic repercussions, while predicting that this situation will lead to several famines being declared in 2022, and that 2023 could be even worse.

Guterres has insisted on UN efforts for peace in Ukraine and to unblock the export of food and fertilizers from the conflict countries, one of the main causes of the uncontrollable food and fuel price soaring, which has deepened the current crisis.

The senior official called for debt relief for poor countries to help them get their economies afloat, and for the private sector to help stabilize food markets.

Likewise, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) revealed in its recent Food Outlook report that the global cost of food imports will increase by $51 billion as compared to 2021, and that it is worrying that many vulnerable countries are paying more but receiving less food.

While there are growing calls for peace, to mitigate Third World debts; to create UN financial funds to face the critical moment; to stop the war in Ukraine, as it is an open source of instability in Europe; to assume responsible policies against climate change and to face global migratory instability, the West only responds with threats and more confrontation, with ridiculous contributions to the solution of such challenges and betting everything on war.

Every statement of the government of the United States, its closest allies and NATO, overflows with arrogance, interference and the irresponsibility of stirring up the conflict in Kiev even more, and unveiling a veiled declaration of hostility, without much diplomacy, against Moscow and Beijing.

This hegemonic, imperial, pro-American and confrontational purpose was made clear at the opening of the NATO Summit in Madrid by its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who openly lashed out against Russia and China from his opening remarks, singling out both powers, in offensive terms, as the enemies of the present: authoritarian regimes that openly defy the international order.

Rather than a Summit to fix the problems that threaten humanity, its projections are for more weapons, a multi-million-dollar military aid for Ukraine, increased NATO siege against Moscow, increased spending and investment in the war industry, new military bases of the United States in Europe, more intelligence coordination than humanitarian aid to stop migratory flows from the “southern flank” (new denomination); of more fear to justify new concerted sanctions against Russians and Chinese, with an arrogant discourse of cold war in times of nuclear risks, when the American and British leaders persist in showing their teeth.

Between January and May of this year alone, the U.S. has committed more than $40 billion in support to Ukraine in the context of the war, while the European Union and its banks have contributed more than 27 billion euros, according to figures from Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

To deal with the current food crisis, the West has contributed no more than $5 billion to UN efforts.

As if that were not enough, the first announcements of the delegation headed by Biden at the Madrid Summit were that it will strengthen its military presence in Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as in the Baltic region. He also informed that rotating deployments with armor, aviation, air defense and special operations forces in the Baltic will be “increased”.

While the world needs and demands peace, demands food, fuel and fertilizer prices at lower prices, the drums of war are beating under the leadership of Joseph Biden, Stoltenberg and the British Prime Minister, who are taking advantage of the serious crisis they fomented with the war in Ukraine to further consolidate the expansionism of NATO and Washington’s geostrategic interests.

Against the odds of hunger, death or the Third and last World War (of nuclear extermination), the White House and the West persist in preventing peace in spite of the high number of victims, expenses, impacts or crises provoked on the planet, already stunned by pandemics, droughts, famines, uncontrolled migrations and other wars of pillage or plunder, at the Pentagon’s expense.

Although some American and European commentators crudely describe the potential dangers of the warmongering attitude of Biden and his allies, they do not hide the weight that the interests of the Democratic Party group, which is focused on preventing the return of Trump and the Republicans, have in everything that is happening, and they need a high-voltage conflict of great tension to help them position themselves in the “patriotic” current that will allow them to win the mid-term elections next November.

Regarding the results of the Madrid Summit, a Spanish commentator bluntly referred:

“NATO, which had been diagnosed as “brain dead” by President Macron, has received a miraculous expansionist boost (…) Whether such expansion offers more security is written in the stars, even if they are the stars of the American flag, since American governments have always operated according to their own designs or interests, unilaterally, as we have seen in Afghanistan and in other conflicts.”

Uncategorized

EDITORIAL : A Girón in July

EDITORIAL

A Girón in July
This people has fought tirelessly for its independence. It wins every time someone tries to take it away from it, it fearlessly faces those who try to deprive it of its right to decide how it wants to live. It will therefore never submit to provocations or threats

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
july 11, 2022 12:07:15

 

 

 

 

 



Photo: José Manuel Correa
For Cubans, the month of July is clearly synonymous with revolution. For this is the month with the glorious 26th, when José Martí was reborn to lead, from his immeasurably great legacy, Fidel and the entire generation that continued the irreversible path to Cuba’s full dignity.

So much human greatness, so many sacrifices, so much history are symbolic expressions of our perseverance, our resistance, our principles and our sense of justice.

This people has fought tirelessly for its independence. It wins every time someone tries to take it away from it, it fearlessly stands up to those who try to take away its right to decide for itself how it wants to live. It will therefore never bow to provocations or threats.

The economic, trade and financial blockade, the practiced state terrorism and the invasion attempt are the proof. And since all this did not bring about the planned overthrow, our enemies are now relying on the so-called soft coup. They tried it with the greatest audacity on July 11, 2021, not knowing how deeply rooted the revolution is in those who create it, perfect it and stand firmly by it.

With a large-scale political communication operation, they wanted to opportunistically take advantage of the coincidence of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic crisis and the measures to tighten the blockade to an unprecedented level.

The very obvious goal? To create the false impression that the shortages and material difficulties were the result of inefficient revolutionary government policies, thus concealing the real cause: the inhuman economic siege by the United States.

Before the world, they sold the idea of a social uprising that would “overthrow the dictatorship.” But their plan was based on a mistake: they underestimated the unity of the nation, the majority support for the revolutionary project, the will not to allow peace and social gains to be challenged. Thus, as always, they were doomed to failure.

They have not yet understood that continuity in Cuba is not demagogy and that defending the Revolution at all costs is not an empty slogan, but testifies to the firm determination with which the people oppose their enemies.

Because they are aware of the dangers, the Cuban people have always been in combat readiness. This was demonstrated on July 11, when they put down this skirmish within a few hours.

Thus, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, called with an open heart, as if Fidel, Raúl, Martí and all the heroes of the Fatherland were speaking, for the defense of the Revolution in the streets, and the people were already there without hesitation.

It was an act of fidelity to the legacy of the Comandante en Jefe, who had once explained on January 8, 1959, how he intended to act in situations of imminent danger: “I tell you that the first thing I will always do when I see the Revolution in danger is to call on the people. Because by talking to the people, we can avoid bloodshed. Before we fire even one shot here, we must address the people a thousand times…”.

And with great courage, this people has asserted its status as the supreme protectors of this work, showing that the peace and tranquility of the people are sacred and that just and sincere demands do not need violence to be heard.

It is also the people who reject impunity, for no one in the service of foreign interests has the right to undermine the order of this sovereign nation.

Those who wanted to hijack July 11, the day we revolutionaries foiled a vandalistic coup, for their paymasters are to be pitied.

July 26 is so important in the history of our country that the month is not long enough to celebrate it properly. How can we accommodate so much glory when now we add to it the crushing victory of the 11th, so similar to that 13th on which Maceo routed an entire army of Spaniards in the fields of Peralejo in 1895?

For the cunningly planned mercenary attack and for the illusory goal of obtaining a “beachhead” from which to demand Yankee intervention, there was already a place and a date that represent the greatest disgrace of the Empire: Girón.

But if the enemies of Cuba, in their servility, do not let themselves be dissuaded from getting a new Girón every time they try, they will get one every time, as they did in April 1961, as they did in July 2021.

Revolutionary Cuba, on the other hand, remains cheerful, lives in peace and stands on the side of reason, truth and justice. We know that times are hard, but we also know that together we are able to overcome the pitfalls of a complicated reality that does not only affect our country.

We will continue to stand upright, with a critical eye, with a transformative spirit, with creative resistance, and with dreams and hopes for a future in revolution.