Biotechnology in Cuba

By María Josefina Arce

Biotechnology is a branch of science in which Cuba maintains a dynamic and fruitful cooperation with many countries in the world, interested in the various products of high efficacy and safety for the treatment of different diseases.

The drugs created by our scientific community are present in numerous markets and have represented an improvement in the living conditions of countless patients.

Now more people will be able to benefit from these drugs, following the signing of five memorandums of understanding between Cuba's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry group and several Russian companies.

The agreements, which represent good news for many, were signed in Moscow as part of a visit by Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas.

The agreements will make possible, for example, the clinical development and registration in Russia and the Eurasian Union of Jusvinza used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, an irreversible chronic disease that erodes cartilage and bones.

This product, created by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, was also successfully used during the COVID 19 pandemic in critically ill patients. It showed a reduction in hyperinflammation and hypercoagulation.

But other drugs will also reach Russia and the Eurasian Union, such as the therapeutic vaccine against advanced lung cancer CIMAVAX, which offers excellent benefits and improves survival.

Developed by Cuba's Molecular Immunology Center after more than two decades of research, CIMAVAX is the only one of its kind in the world and has aroused the interest of nations from different latitudes.

Cuban scientists have also created drugs against diseases that attack cattle, pigs and plants, which contribute a lot to the food security of the population and the economy.

This is the case of GAVAC, for cattle, which is already marketed in Latin American countries, and HEBERNEM, which controls various species of nematodes in crops, which are round, elongated and unsegmented worms. It also stimulates plant growth.

Given the priority given in Cuba to the development of biotechnology, today the country has effective and safe products that contribute to the health of the population and also to economic development, thus to the welfare of all.