Cuba registers new skin cancer medicine
Cuba has registered Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB)a new skin cancer medicine called “Heberferon” developed by the island’s
Author: Cubadebate | internet@granma.cu
september 1, 2016 18:09:03

Photo: Cubadebate
After 20 years of research and clinical trials, Cuba’s Havana-based Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB) has developed a new medicine called “Heberferon.”
BiologistIraldo Bello, who participated in the process, described the drug which combines interferón “Alfa” and interferón “Gamma” through the use of recombinant technology at the CIGB – as “unique” in the world. 
The injectable medication cures or reduces the size of malignant skin tumors and can prevent scaring from surgery in areas difficult to operate on such as the face, noted the specialist. 
Bello also explained that Cuba has a high rate of skin cancer, which is usually caused by excessive exposure to the sun.
CIGB production plants have already manufactured over 10,000 vials of the new medicine, which continues to be developed with the aim of treating other types of cancer. Meanwhile the next step will be to include Heberferon on the island’s list of basic medicines, he stated.
The CIGB also produces the complementary lung cancer medication “Cimavax EGF”, which is applied alongside conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy, and despite not providing a cure, does help to manage the disease and improve the patient’s quality of life, above all, of those whose condition is in the advanced stage.
Another outstanding product developed by Cuba’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is “Heberprot-P,” a medicine to treat diabetic foot ulcers and avoid amputations, as well as drugs against hepatitis B and meningitis.

Half a million infants to receive polio vaccine in upcoming campaign
Since 1962, 85 million doses of polio vaccine have been administered in Cuba, making the country the first in Latin America to eradicate the disease

Author: ACN | informacion@granma.cu
march 24, 2016 08:03:34

Photo: Anabel Díaz

Since February 26, 1962, to date, 85 million doses of polio vaccine have been administered in Cuba, making the country the first in Latin America to eradicate this devastating childhood disease
The entire population under 68 years of age has been protected, according to Dr. Marlén Valcárcel, director of the Ministry of Public Health’s (Minsap) National Immunization Program, reported ACN, with children under three years of age being immunized initially as infants, plus a subsequent booster.
The doctor reported that during the second stage of the 55th national campaign, March 28 through April 3, a second dose of the vaccine will be administered orally to almost half a million children, 372,856 under the age of three.

Young Americans grateful for the opportunity to study medicine in Cuba
Young people for the U.S. studying medicine in Havana welcomed news of the visit by President Obama to Cuba, and hope that the rapprochement between the two countries is mutually beneficial.

Author: Nuria Barbosa León | informacion@granma.cu
march 8, 2016 10:03:22

ELAM students Shaneen Whyte, Patrick Daley and Jontay Darko. Photo: Orlando Perera (courtesy of ICAP)
Young people for the U.S. studying medicine in Havana welcomed news of the visit by President Obama to Cuba, and hope that the rapprochement between the two countries is mutually beneficial.

“I hope that during this visit March 21 and 22, there is an open and sincere dialogue, with agreements that are good for the two peoples,” Jontay Darko, a 5th year medical sciences student at the Salvador Allende Faculty in Havana, told Granma International. The faculty forms part of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), which has graduated more than 24,000 health professionals from 84 countries, in its over 15 years of existence.

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Cuba develops biopharmaceuticals to treat cancer
Cuba currently has a total of 28 drugs registered, or in various stages of investigation, for the treatment of cancer, which include therapeutic vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, interferons and peptides

Author: Orfilio Peláez | orfilio@granma.cu
february 4, 2016 09:02:03

Photo: cubaahora.cu
Cuba currently has a total of 28 drugs registered, or in various stages of investigation, for the treatment of cancer, which include therapeutic vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, interferons and peptides, developed in different scientific institutions linked to the country’s biotechnology sector.

Dr. Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, of the Center of Molecular Immunology, reported on advances in the sector at the inauguration of the 5th International Seminar and National Workshop on Use and Development of Health Related Industrial Isotope Products, organized by the Center of Isotopes (Centis) and running through Friday, February 5, at Havana’s Hotel Riviera. Professionals from various countries, including Italy, Germany, the U.S., Hungary, Spain, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and El Salvador are participating in the event.

As the specialist noted, these biopharmaceuticals should have an increasing impact over the coming years in cancer treatment, with the aim of turning advanced cancer into a long-term manageable chronic disease, with an acceptable quality of life.

He also highlighted that the planned introduction in the country of advanced imaging equipment in nuclear medicine and oncology will lead to more effective treatment for malignant neoplasms, according to the specific biological characteristics of each tumor.

Also speaking at the opening of the event, Dr. Jorge Cruz Arencibia, director of Centis, noted that beyond import substitution, the gradual installation of a plant to produce yttrium-90 will enhance the use of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, joint complications due to rheumatoid arthritis and hemophilia, pain relief for bone metastases, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and other types of tumors.