Two Cuban lung cancer vaccines offer the hope of survival for patients with an advanced stage of that disease.The head of the oncology services at Santa Clara University Hospital, in central Cuba, Ana Victoria Torre, said that the vaccines activate the patients’ immune system to fight cancerous cells.
The vaccines are known as CimaVax and Racotumomab, which delay the spread of cancer in the body. The two products are still under clinical tests, though they have proven successful in Cuba, said the expert.
Meanwhile Fernado Cabanillas, director of the Cancer Center at the Santa Clara hospital, explained that the vaccines are administered following chemo and radiotherapy treatment with different results. Some patients may live for some additional months; others extend their lives for years, despite the advanced stage of their disease.
Experts say that the vaccines could be possibly be available in Puerto Rico in a few years in tune with the advancement of the US-Cuba normalization of relations.
At present, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York is working to use the Cuban vaccines in the US.(Caribbean News Now)
