Encouraging Results with Jusvinza

President Highlights Preliminary Success of Cuban Biotech Product
“We are seeing results here,” stated the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, on Monday afternoon regarding the partial outcomes emerging from clinical studies with the Cuban biotechnological product Jusvinza in patients in the post-acute and chronic stages affected by the Chikungunya virus.

Launch and Hypothesis of the Clinical Study
On December 2, 2025, a group of health experts began immunological and clinical studies on the island, based on the hypothesis that with Jusvinza intervention, patients with post-chikungunya chronic arthritis could show clinical improvement. Fortunately, science has progressively indicated that a notable evolution has been observed in the study groups enrolled in the provinces of Havana and Matanzas.

Rigor and Safety Profile Emphasized
Multiple voices participated in Monday's reflections to highlight the rigor and "adequate safety profile" of the study. It was discussed in terms of a "national achievement." There is consensus that, following treatment, patient response to the product is observed early.

Dr. Julio Esmir Baldomero Hernández, Director of Clinical Research at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), stated that the study report could have very solid data by early March. The research includes long-term evaluations to assess primarily safety and the persistence of the therapeutic effect. The scientist affirmed the study has been executed in compliance with good practices and, therefore, endorsed by CECMED (Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment, and Medical Devices), which conducted an inspection just 24 days after the research began, subsequently ruling adherence to good clinical practices.

Expert Analysis on Chronic Progression and Treatment Potential
Addressing a condition that has shown its complexity, Dr. Miguel Hernán Estévez del Toro, Director of the "Hermanos Ameijeiras" Clinical-Surgical Hospital and a Cuban rheumatology expert, emphasized towards the end of the meeting: "We are facing a disease for which a percentage of patients will complete three months of evolution and progress towards chronic inflammatory arthropathy."

The expert noted that in all reported cases, "practically the same inflammatory mediators are present," those that "are present with some particularities in rheumatoid arthritis." He mentioned this because when rheumatoid arthritis is not controlled, a chronic inflammatory process ensues that severely limits—the Doctor asserted—the patients' quality of life and functional status.

"That is, being able to count on a medication, a product capable of halting the inflammatory progression of the disease, will be very beneficial," stated the rheumatology expert. He announced that currently, following indications from the Ministry of Public Health and its Innovation Committee, a national survey led by the National Group and the Cuban Society of Rheumatology has been launched.

National Survey to Establish Treatment Guidelines
This survey, Dr. Miguel Hernán Estévez del Toro explained, includes all specialty personnel who have been treating the patients. It aims to establish a position, a consensus, which the Doctor assessed will be very positive. He affirmed this because the current survey will yield "a highly consensual position document, and there the treatment guidelines will surely be established," combining, he said, rehabilitation. That rehabilitation is the battlefield where Jusvinza is the product called to play a significant role.

Scientific Repurposing and Preliminary Findings
Jusvinza is a Cuban biotechnology medication that controls hyperinflammation and regulates the immune response, approved for treating diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19. Repurposing this drug, which was not created to treat Chikungunya, has been, in the words of Dr. María del Carmen Domínguez, principal investigator of the study, a very difficult scientific exercise, as she expressed in the dialogue between scientists, health experts, and the President.

*"The first gain in this very preliminary interim analysis is the safety profile; we once again confirm a good safety profile for the drug, and that gives us something important, which is the ability to immunomodulate. Here, we extended from what we had studied in rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19 to more repetitive administrations over time—that is a significant molecular challenge. Similarly, we already see that very early, even though the treatment has not finished, there is a contribution to the clinical improvement of the patients,"* expressed the renowned scientist.

Meeting Context and Epidemiological Trend
From the Palace of the Revolution, during the meeting which was also presided over by Political Bureau member and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, expert voices confirmed that the manifestation of the chikungunya virus tends to be decreasing in the country.