Cuba encouraged by early efficacy results of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine

[SheltieLover]

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-encouraged-by-early-trials-homegrown-covid-19-vaccine-2021-06-20/

HAVANA, June 19 (Reuters) - Cuba's Soberana 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62% efficacy with just two of its three doses, state-run biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said on Saturday, citing preliminary data from late phase trials.

Cuba, whose biotech sector has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials, of which two - Soberana 2 and Abdala - are in late phase trials.

"In a few weeks we should have the results for the efficacy with three doses which we expect will be superior," said Vicente Vérez​, director of the state-run Finlay Vaccine Institute, which developed Soberana 2.

The news comes as the Caribbean's largest island is facing its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic in the wake of the arrival of more contagious variants, setting new records of daily coronavirus cases.

More at link.

[malaise]

1. In March I was thinking for waiting for the Cuban vaccine

because it will be up there with the best.
I've already had my two doses of the AZ.
Cuba will save the region as there is total confusion for persons under 60 - some folks should already have had their second dose but they have run out of vaccines.

As usual it will be Cuba leading the way with healthcare for the region.

[SheltieLover]

6. I'm glad you were able to get vaxed, Malaise!

And to Cuba for their medical expertise and compassionate care!

[Judi Lynn]

2. Cuba has become internationally respected for its amazing progress under the paralyzing economic war

the US has been waging upon it through the embargo over 5 decades. It's the longest embargo in the world's history.

The new vaccine sounds right in step with some amazing breakthroughs Cuba has made, often applauded by countries everywhere outside the U.S. who have been keeping close track of Cuba's biomedical research for ages.

Did a quick check, found an article 5 years old which can add some information:

Cuba Has Made At Least 3 Major Medical Innovations That We Need
The trade embargo is holding up research in some crucial areas.
By
Anna Almendrala
03/15/2016 02:36pm EDT

By most measures, the United States' business-friendly environment has proven to be fertile for medical innovation. Compared to other countries, America has filed the most patents in the life sciences, is conducting most of the world's clinical trials and has published the most biomedical research.

That's what makes the medical prominence of Cuba all the more surprising to those who view a free market as an essential driver of scientific discovery. Cuba is very poor, and yet the country has some of the healthiest, most long-lived residents in the world -- as well as a medical invention or two that could run circles around U.S. therapies, thanks to government investment in scientific research and a preventive public health approach that views medical care as a birthright.

The island nation, hemmed in by a 54-year trade embargo with the U.S., can’t exchange goods with one of the world’s largest economies and the largest medical market. Still, the country is an unlikely global leader in public health and scientific investment.

"If people knew about these cutting-edge treatments coming out of Cuba, people would want to have them," said Pierre LaRamée, executive director of the Oakland-based Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba, which advocates for Cuban medical inventions in the U.S. and publishes an international, peer-reviewed journal focusing on Cuban health and medicine.

"All of these arcane rules and restrictions related to the embargo that are designed to block commerce with Cuba are keeping Americans from having access to these treatment opportunities," LaRamée said.

The White House is continuing to lift trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba. The most promising change yet came Tuesday, when the Obama administration announced that American dollars will now be usable in financial transactions in Cuba. The administration is also easing travel restrictions, allowing individuals to visit Cuba for "people to people" educational tours, whereas before Americans were only allowed to make such trips as part of a tour group.

However, most transactions between Cuba and the U.S. are still prohibited, which is why Cuban drugs face additional regulatory hurdles for testing and marketing compared to other drugs developed overseas. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has authorized the importation of some Cuban medicines in the past, but only enough to conduct research and clinical trials, according to a spokeswoman for the Treasury.

Perhaps the most well-known Cuban innovation is the vaccine CimaVax. Invented by researchers at the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana, CimaVax targets a growth factor in cancer cells in a way that can arrest the spread of the disease. It can be used as both a treatment for lung cancer patients and a preventive measure for people at high risk of the disease.

More:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cuba-medical-innovations_n_56ddfacfe4b03a4056799015

~ ~ ~

As you know, the former guy quickly ended the important steps former President Obama had taken to normalize relations with Cuba after all the years the hard right has used it as a political football to accumulate racist, fascist, infantile votes.

Thanks for your article, Sheltie Lover. ❤️️

[SheltieLover]

7. WOW!!!

Ty, Judi Lynn, for again sharing such enlightening information about Cuba's superior healthcare system!

Perhaps this is the reason for those embargos.

I once knew a chiropractor, many years ago, who was experimenting, treating cancerwith acupuncture, & had found great success using some very specific needles & protocols.

Well, isn't it interesting that when objective medical testing proved the cancerous tumors were gone, all medical records belonging to that patient disappepared out of perhaps the most prestigious hospital?

Anyway, kudos to Cuba's medical system & all the best to them in their trials & fighting covid!

[malaise]

13. Great post

as usual

[joetheman]

15. AND Cuba has always been among the first, if not the first, nation to send medical staff and aid to

afflicted areas in Africa and South America. The people of the world do not forget this. Biden would do a great service to the people of the world and the people of Cuba if he would get rid of all the barriers to a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship with Cube...Florida be damned...one tiny conclave of voters is responsible for the loss of many more lives than Castro, in my opinion.

[RegularJam]

3. Interesting info.

https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/trials-vaccines-by-country/

[SheltieLover]

8. Ty

[Judi Lynn]

4. Cuba's Soberana 2 Vaccine Candidate Shows 62% Efficacy With 2 Doses (article from today)

Cuba’s Soberana 2 Vaccine Candidate Shows 62% Efficacy With 2 Doses
Nina Siena | Jun 22 2021, 12:09AM EDT

Cuba’s Soberana 2 vaccine, now concluding its late phase trials, is showing promise with a 62% efficacy upon completion of just two of its required three doses. State-run BioCubaFarma, which has a long history of developing, producing and exporting serums, has five vaccine candidates in the works of clinical trials. Soberana 2 will conclude its late phase trials and should have final results in a few weeks.

According to Al Jazeera, several countries like Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela and Jamaica have expressed interest in buying Cuba’s vaccines. As it is, Iran has already started its production phase of Soberana 2 earlier this year which forms part of its late-phase trials.

Meanwhile, authorities in Cuba are well on their way in administering one of its five experimental vaccines as part of “intervention studies”. The government is hopeful its Abdala vaccine will slow down the spread of the virus in the wake of an outbreak in the Carribean’s largest island.

Official data shows that since the en-masse experimental vaccination campaign, daily infection cases in the capital have now been cut in half with the help of stricter lockdown measures.

Vicente Vérez Bencomo​, director of the state-run Finlay Vaccine Institute, who is also part of the team who developed Soberana 2 said they expect results to be superior.

On Saturday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed his thoughts at the presentation of results on state-run television: “We know our government has not been able to provide this project all the funding it required, and nonetheless this is a result of global standing.”

More:
https://www.latintimes.com/cubas-soberana-2-vaccine-candidate-shows-62-efficacy-2-doses-475444

[SheltieLover]

9. What a shame they lack funding!

This is amazing, Judi Lynn! Tyvm for sharing!

[GulfCoast66]

5. The US is the main reason Cubans still don't have a functioning democracy.

I detest the repression of the Cuban government as much as i do many other countries. Not nearly as much as I hate Saudi Arabia. We should have nothing to do with them.

And while I know some here hold up Cuba as some of Quixote version of a hero tilting against the US windmill, the people there have no political rights. I have no fond feelings for their government.

Had we just never stopped trading with them and allowed Americans to go there, by the late 80’s and early 90’s when the Soviet Union dissolved Cubs’s one party state would have followed. But we are the ‘Forever Enemy’. Used by their rulers to justify political repression.

We should open up full trade and transportation then pretty much ignore them. Their one party state would die in that vacuum.

And we should offer them our vaccines. For free. Because of red states we are getting a huge surplus.

[SheltieLover]

10. Agreed!

Perhaps their superior medical cqre and innovations is a major reason tge US has embargos in place?

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. Cuba has somehow managed to do some amazing things, despite

the Bully on the Block trying to destroy them for 50 years.

[SheltieLover]

12. It certainly appears so!

Wondering if their great medical success, and perhaps the perception that people have a right to medical care, isn't a main reason for blockades?

[malaise]

14. Way more than 50 years

The Revolution was in 1959