Havana, April 28 (RHC)-- At this week's meeting with scientists and experts, Dr. Consuelo Macías Abraham, Director of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology, presented the results of a phase one clinical trial of autologous stem cell therapy in patients with lung lesions recovered from COVID-19.

According to the expert, the purpose of this study was to describe the safety profile of autologous stem cell therapy (from the patients themselves) and to evaluate its clinical effectiveness.

At the end of this first step in the research, Macias said, autologous stem cell therapy was proven to be safe, there were no adverse reactions, and it was effective in treating post-COVID-19 lung lesions by more than 50% at six months. In that sense, she said, it decreased inflammatory biomarkers, improved respiratory function and lung injury in the recovered patient.

In the clinical trial -which included a comparison between patients treated with autologous stem cells and others with steroids- results demonstrated that the treatment with steroids is less effective and induces adverse reactions, with complications in the clinical condition.

Macías Abraham specified that phase two of the clinical trial is being prepared, together with the Regenerative Medicine Unit of the University of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara, which will include, recovered patients with inflammatory lung lesions that have not responded to treatment with steroids or respiratory rehabilitation.

On Twitter, President Miguel Diaz Canel acknowledged this important step in treating COVID-19 convalescents with lung lesions and instructed the spread of this therapy in all provinces.