Cuba Bets on Heberferon to Treat Several Kinds of Cancer

Cuba will develop this year several clinical trials with Heberferon to treat different kinds of cancer, one of the leading causes of death on the island and worldwide, the national press reported today.

Iraldo Bello, doctor in Biological Sciences, stated that a clinical trial to apply this medicine to about 300 patients with renal carcinoma, as well as another focused on patients with malignant brain tumors, will begin in 2017.

Heberferon is a synergistic combination of interferon alpha 2b and recombinant human gamma, and has had important results in the treatment of basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer.

Preclinical studies and other pilot researches in humans show that the results with this product can be very promising in these two indications, the expert said.

This product, the only one of its kind in the world since late 2016, is in the basic medicine list and is registered in Cuba, Bello said.

The product is the result of 20 years of research, and is one of the leading medicines of the Cuban biotechnology, and since its first applications, it has aroused the interest of several countries to obtain it.

Together with the National Cancer Control Group, authorities have developed specialized workshops to educate doctors about the use of this medicine, which has already been applied to 800 Cuban patients with basal cell carcinoma.