Cuba develops first cancer vaccine

HAVANA, Cuba – THE Camaguey’s Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Centre has recently announced a medical breakthrough in cancer research, approving the first-ever therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer.

The drug Heberprovac has been developed in Cuba and is the first vaccine in the world to be approved for cancer treatment. According to the Havana Journal, the vaccine fights hormone-sensitive prostate cancer and the initial phase of its clinical trials has been approved by Cuba’s State Pharmaceutical Quality Control Center.

The test reported a “safety impact and good therapeutic activity against the second cause of death for men in Cuba”. Heberprovac was administered on patients at the Maria Curie Provincial Oncology Hospital who had been informed of the new vaccine and how it works.

The pharmaceutical can be used at any stage of cancer and although it is not a curative vaccine, it was observed that it improves the quality of life of patients as it extends their life for up to 5 months on average. The report also states that following the vaccination program, patients were administered radiotherapy and were under frequent observation of the research.

The second period of the test is still to come, in which experts are expected to identify the most effective dose and the best administration programme for the vaccine. The recent breakthrough has prompted advanced research into a number of other vaccines to be tested for similar purposes.