Category Archives: Cuban Pharmaceutical

Cuban Pharmaceutical

Cuba resumes production of cytostatic drugs

Cuba resumes production of cytostatic drugs

The AICA Laboratories plant restarts operations after an investment that expands its capacity, guaranteeing cancer medications for the Cuban people

Author:  | internet@granma.cu

Photo: Prensa Latina

In a context of severe economic limitations and a tightening of the blockade, Cuba takes a decisive step to support care for cancer patients. The AICA Laboratories cytostatic drug plant restarted its production operations after completing an investment process aimed at expanding its capacity, news that reaffirms the Cuban State’s commitment to prioritizing the life and health of its people.
The president of BioCubaFarma, Mayda Mauri Pérez, welcomed the Minister of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda, to the facility during a visit that highlighted the integrated work between the biopharmaceutical industry, the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), and the Cuban government—a key factor in achieving this reactivation despite the current complex situation.
According to a Facebook post by the biopharmaceutical group, during the tour, specialists explained that the restart is a phased and controlled process, in which each production phase is activated gradually to ensure technological stability and the quality of the medications.
The plant, now with increased capacity, is responsible for supplying 16 cytostatic drugs to the National Program for the Care of Cancer Patients. Production will resume prioritizing those medications of greatest clinical criticality, according to the schedules agreed upon with the Ministry of Public Health.
Attending the restart of operations at the cytostatic drug plant of Laboratorios AICA, Portal Miranda noted that, despite economic constraints, its reopening will contribute to ensuring the availability of medications for cancer treatment.
For her part, Mayda Mauri Pérez emphasized the current situation and highlighted the strong alliance between the biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors as an essential pillar for maintaining the supply of cancer medications to the Cuban population, despite the intensification of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States.
The visit also included the participation of oncologists, who exchanged views with management on therapeutic priorities, thus ensuring that production directly responds to the clinical needs of patients.
The reactivation of this plant is not an isolated event: it is a clear example of how the Cuban biotechnology industry and the public health system work in complete partnership, under a single objective: guaranteeing the availability of essential medications at the most critical time. In a country facing shortages induced from abroad, each drug produced in this plant represents sovereignty, hope and a commitment to the right to health for all Cubans.

Cuban Pharmaceutical

Biocubafarma signs cooperation agreement with Chinese company

Biocubafarma signs cooperation agreement with Chinese company
The Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma) signed a new cooperation agreement with Chinese joint venture Changheber for the introduction of innovative immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer in the Asian country, it announced via Twitter

Author: Radio Habana Cuba | internet@granma.cu

june 28, 2023 10:06:39

Beijing, Jun 27 (RHC) The Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Group (BioCubaFarma) signed a new cooperation agreement with Chinese joint venture Changheber for the introduction of innovative immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer in the Asian country, it announced via Twitter.
Dr. Marta Ayala, director general of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Cuba (CIGB), visited Changheber’s plant in Changchun, China, where QuimiHib vaccines are produced in phase 3 clinical trials.
During the visit, a technology transfer contract was signed for the CIGB247 project, which will allow the research, production, and development of a product for the treatment of different types of cancer. It is expected that obtaining the sanitary registration of this product in China will allow its commercialization in other countries and benefit the population of both nations.
This collaboration further strengthens relations between China and Cuba in the field of biotechnology and represents an important opportunity for cancer treatment worldwide.
Biocubafarma is the main business group in the Cuban biopharmaceutical sector, comprising more than 30 institutions.

Cuban Pharmaceutical, Uncategorized

Cuban vaccine against lung cancer makes its way in the United States

Cuban vaccine against lung cancer makes its way in the United States
Cimavax-EGF, a Cuban therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer, conquers the scientific community and the population of the United States based on the achievements compiled in studies carried out.

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
july 27, 2022 11:07:50

Cimavax-EGF, a Cuban therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer, conquers the scientific community and the population of the United States based on the achievements compiled in studies carried out. The vaccine was obtained after more than two decades of research and have shown satisfactory results in patients in advanced stages of lung cancer.

The Cuban Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) and the Roswell Park Cancer Research Center in Buffalo, in the United States of America, joined forces a few years ago to facilitate access to equipment and reagents in order to promote the development of the drug, reported Russia Today.

The creation of the only joint venture between Cuba and the United States, the Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance, a biotechnological company to insert the drug in the U.S. society, facilitated Cuba’s access to equipment and reagents which are very difficult to obtain due to the limitations of the coercive measure of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on the island, and the northern country can have access to a drug with excellent results and prospects.

Doctor Elia Neninger, who participated of in the clinical trials of the therapeutic vaccine from the beginning, assured the Russian TV station that the drug has two great advantages: few adverse reactions and a solution to lung cancer, which is a serious health problem in Cuba.

Deputy director of the Molecular Immunology Center Kalet León Monzón said that the patients who have received the vaccine are recovering from advanced tumor cancer and could have the prospect of survival in normal conditions in the very short term, according to Russia Today.

One of the beneficiaries of the vaccine, Miguel Creus, a patient who began to receive Cimavax 15 years ago, when the disease was in stage four and the vaccine was in clinical trials, assures that the drug has prolonged his life with a satisfactory state of health, and that at present he has no traces of tumors or symptoms of the disease.

Despite the effects of the economic blockade of the United States against 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 frequent cancer in the United States and the deadliest. This Cuban drug could be a promising relief, a good example of the benefits both nations would obtain if they had a normal relationship. (International News Office)

Translated by ESTI

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