http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/noviembre/mier18/Cuba.html
Havana. November 18, 2009
Cuba continuing to develop innovative biotechnology products
Lilliam Riera
DESPITE the global economic-financial crisis and the cruel and unjust
blockade imposed for more than 50 years by successive U.S. administrations,
Cuba is continuing to develop innovative biotechnology products to improve the
quality of life of its population and other nations.
Dr. Gerardo Guillén Nieto, director of biomedical research at Havana's
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB) in Havana, told Granma
International that the center currently has around 70 research-development
projects centering on important medical issues such as infectious disease,
cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Reports from the World Health Organization indicate that 45% of deaths in
poor countries are due to infectious diseases.
The situation in Cuba changed after 1959 and these diseases ceased to be
a health problem thanks to the epidemiological vigilance directed by the
prestigious Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), which has four
centers of cooperation with global and Pan-American health organizations,
including one dedicated to dengue and its vector.
The most predominant health problems for Cubans are now chronic
non-transferable diseases, with an increase in the number of cases of cancer
and cardiovascular disease, among the most common causes of death in First
World countries.
CIGB's portfolio of projects is very impressive, Dr. Guillén stated,
explaining that it contains innovative products, some which have been recently
developed and others which are still in the development process.
Among those recently registered, he mentioned the combined Heberpenta
vaccine and Heberprot-P, an injectable solution of epidermal growth factor.
In just one shot, Heberpenta protects infants against diphtheria,
tetanus, whopping cough, hepatitis B, and diseases caused by the bacterium
Haemophilus influenzae type B.
CIGB, the Finlay Institute, and the Reactive Chemical Laboratory at the
University of Havana contributed to its invention.
Second of its type in the world, this liquid vaccine has achieved the
same level of effectiveness as the one produced by the transnational
GlaxoSmithKline.
The Cuban pentavalent vaccine is part of the massive and free National
Vaccine Program that protects the infant population against 13 preventable
diseases and has allowed the country to prevent the resurgence of diseases that
have been eliminated, including polio (eradicated in 1962 - Cuba was the first
country on the continent to eradicate this disease), Neonatal tetanus (since
1972), diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, rubella, and tubercular meningitis
in children of under 12 months.
Heberprot-P is the only product in the world that helps heal complicated
ulcers, like diabetic foot ulcers (UPD), and reduces the risk of amputation of
the inferior members of these patients, thereby increasing their quality of
life.
There are 285 million diabetics in the world today, a figure that is
predicted to rise to 438 million in 2030, according to estimates by
international agencies.
In Cuba, the number of diabetics could reach 624,000 by 2010, according
to Dr. Oscar Díaz Díaz, director of the National Institute of Endocrinology, on
a 2007 Cuban Television "Roundtable" program on this disease and its treatment.
However, the island has the lowest mortality rate for diabetes (12.3 per
1,000 inhabitants) of the entire American continent, as noted in a report from
the Pan-American Health Organization.
Developed by CIGB in conjunction with the National Institute of Angiology
and Vascular Surgery, Heberprot-P was registered in Cuba in June 2006 and, in
April 2007, was included within the basic spectrum of 866 medications, 537 of
which are produced nationally.
Available in angiology services Cuban hospitals, work is ongoing to
extend its use to the primary healthcare sector since last year," Ernesto López
Mola, CIGB head of business development, informed Granma International in an
interview in 2008.
The medication is patented in the United States, European Union,
Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, the Russian
Federation, China, India, and Ukraine. Its use has been authorized in Venezuela
and Algeria.
However, American citizens cannot benefit from this medicine due to the
U.S. blockade of Cuba.
In the United States, there are almost 20 million diabetics. More than
70,000 amputations related to UPD and diabetic wounds are reported each year
and cost the health care system around $11.3 billion per annum.
Heberpenta and Heberprot-P are the most recent acquisitions of Heber
Biotec S., an agency that exclusively markets biotechnology and pharmaceutical
products, technological services, and research-development products from CIGB
and other important Cuban laboratories and institutions to 45-plus countries in
Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Heber Biotec S.A. has more than 200 approved health registries in 52
countries and signed distribution agreements with companies all over the world.
Madaisy Cueto Sánchez, the organization's promotion and publicity
manager, explained to GI that both products are marketed under the Heberfarma
product line, the pentavalent in the vaccine sector and Heberprot-P in the
biological pharmaceutical sector.
According to data provided to GI, more than 335 million people in the
world have benefited from the vaccines that Heber Biotec S.A. exports.
In addition to the pentavalent vaccine, the company markets Trivac HB
(against dipheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and Hepatitis B), the Heberbiovac
HB recombinant (against Hepatitis B) and the combined
Quimi-Hib (against the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b).
Heber Biotec S.A. and CIGB together form a complex of
research-development, production, and marketing.
Inaugurated on July 1, 1986, CIGB is a vanguard institution in Cuban
Biosciences. The institution's principal value is in its personnel, who are
highly qualified and committed to the development of new products to improve
the quality of life of millions of people around the world, as well as other
applications for agriculture and livestock.
It has laboratories endowed with the state-of-the-art equipment needed
for high level modern biotechnology research and has production facilities that
meet the highest international standards.
CIGB is part of the Scientific Complex to the west of Havana established
in 1991 in order to accelerate the development of biotechnology and
medical-pharmaceutical products via the systematic coordination of research,
teaching, and specialized production among different institutions. The original
idea came from a speech given by Fidel Castro in the 1980s.
At the recently concluded 2009 Havana Biotechnology Conference, Dr. Luis
Herrera, director of CIGB, acknowledged the role played by the leader of the
Cuban Revolution as the precursor to the country's biotechnological
development. In the 1980s, this sector received an initial government
investment of more than $1.5 billion, which allowed the undeveloped and
blockaded nation to place itself alongside the most developed countries in this
field in the world.
Of the products being developed by CIGB, Dr. Guillén emphasized
Proctokinasa, which is nothing more than the application of the Estreptoquinasa
recombinant via the rectum in the form of a suppository, which helps break up
clots. This product is the next to be registered.
He stated that an Alpha Interferon 2b Human Recombinant gel (Hebergel),
indicated for low-grade cervical lesions, is currently in phase three of
clinical trials. In addition, HeberPAG, a combination of Gamma Interferon human
recombinant and Alpha 2b Human Recombinant, indicated for brain cancer, is
currently in the advanced stages of development.
He noted that the therapeutic vaccine against Hepatitis C (Heberterap C)
is currently in phase 2 of clinical trials in chronic patients and added that
studies are underway for its prophylactic application.
In relation to the therapeutic vaccine against prostate cancer
(Heberprovac) he stated that phase one of clinical trials has now concluded.
Projects currently in the preclinical research stage include a prophylactic
vaccine against the four strains of the dengue virus (Cuba is one of three
countries in the Americas where this disease is not endemic), and drugs against
diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Some of these projects were presented by Cuba at the 2009 Havana
Biotechnology Conference, dedicated this year to medical applications in that
branch of knowledge. Prominent researchers, including the 2008 Nobel Prize
Winner in Physiology and Medicine Harald zur Hausen, and 1988 Nobel Prize
Winner in Chemistry Robert Huber, attended the event.
During the conference, close to 500 specialists from more than 30
countries were informed about Cuban biotechnology products, which contribute to
the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of 26 diseases.
In 2007, Cuban pharmaceutical and biotechnology products were the
country's second highest export item, only exceeded by nickel. The income
generated from the sale of pharmaceuticals was valued at $350 million.
The prestigious British scientific magazine Nature described the Cuban
biotechnology industry as the best established in the Third World. This is not
by chance.
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