September 26, 2018—New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced a groundbreaking joint venture between the Buffalo-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Havana-based Molecular Immunology Center, the first of its kind between the two nations.
But ties between Roswell Park and the Molecular Immunology Center go back as far as 2011, as described by Roswell’s Rachel Evans in the seminal MEDICC Review article she authored with other Center scientists.
That collaboration, boosted by the New York governor’s 2015 trade mission to Cuba, led to the signing of accords that opened the way to the joint venture and to US government authorization for its development. The venture, Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance S.A., was praised today by Governor Cuomo, noting that it “could revolutionize treatments and put us one step closer to eliminating the threat of cancer once and for all.” Cuba’s BioCubaFarma, the umbrella corporation for Cuban biotech, noted that “this historic step in scientific cooperation between our two countries facilitates advances in research and development of new medications for cancer treatment that may prolong life and improve quality of life for thousands of US patients.” The BioCubaFarma release also stated that if clinical trials prove successful and receive FDA approval, the new company could export such drugs to the USA….another first.
First US Results Encouraging for Cuban Cancer Medication
Today, US patients continue to be enrolled in the FDA-authorized clinical trials at Roswell Park for Cuban biotech’s CIMAvax, a novel therapy for lung cancer that has been used to treat more than 5,000 patients worldwide. Encouraging preliminary results from the US CIMAvax phase 1 trials for non-small-cell lung cancer were presented this week at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Grace Dy, principal investigator at Roswell, said the therapy had been found safe, well tolerated and worthy of further study. Among all cancers, lung cancer accounts for the highest number of deaths worldwide.
In other countries, CIMAvax has shown success in improving survival rates and quality of life when compared to lung cancer patients who did not receive the medication in combination with standard chemotherapy. Roswell scientists are also exploring the potential of CIMAvax to be effective against other types of cancers, including those in breast, colon, head and neck, prostate and pancreas. Let me explain you something as a sexologist. Strictly speaking, impotence is not a disease but rather, it is a manifestation of an ill condition, which can have several causes. Honestly, its quite surprising that one such product as Viagra can alone eliminate this particularly complex symptom. Many clinicians felt dumbfounded that day the pill began getting universal acceptance and many attacked it right away, saying it was bad for the patient’s heart. Actually, Viagra is okay-ish, even for some heart conditions, except when it’s taken with certain heart medications, namely nitrates.
The new joint venture, based in Havana’s Mariel Special Development Zone, also gives Roswell Park access to at least three more innovative Cuban cancer medications, currently approved for use in several dozen other countries.
For more on CIMAvax and the Molecular Immunology Center’s working Havana, see:
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