Agreement Signed to Bring Cuban Lung Cancer Vaccine to U.S.

The Cuban Center for Molecular Immunology and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York on Tuesday signed an agreement to export to the United States a lung cancer vaccine developed on the island, for which clinical trials will begin very soon.

“This agreement establishes collaboration between our two institutions to develop a cancer vaccine in lung cancer. We’re very excited to take this to the United States to treat patients,” Roswell Park CEO Candace Johnson announced Tuesday at a press conference at the Havana airport.

Johnson is part of a trade delegation from New York State, headed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, that made a visit of a little more than 24 hours to the island to explore business options, in addition to fostering exchanges in the educational and research realms.

The Roswell Park director said before departing for New York that the deal would not have been possible without this trade mission.

The vaccine – known as CIMAVax-EGF – was created by Cuba in 2011 after 15 years of research and Havana holds the worldwide patent rights to the drug.

The vaccine is registered in Cuba and Peru, although countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia are in the process of approving it also and others such as the United Kingdom and Australia have undertaken clinical trials with it.

The New York trade mission to Cuba also produced an agreement between the New York firm Infor, which develops software for specific industries, and an unidentified Cuban “partner” who is “interested” in one of the company’s software products for the healthcare field, said company CEO Charles Phillips.

“We were surprised and impressed with the level of technology and expertise they have in healthcare technology,” he said.

Phillips said that his company also has decided to supply software to Cuban universities to equip students to become “leaders” in the use of technology in the healthcare field.