Keep it Cuban (Image: Peter Turnley for Harper鈥檚/Corbis)
CUBA has a unique relationship with tobacco. Cigars are the country鈥檚 national product and tobacco generates an annual income of between $400 and $500 million. If you鈥檝e ever walked down the Malec贸n of an evening, Havana鈥檚 iconic waterfront promenade, you can鈥檛 fail to have noticed the scores of young people pulling on cheap cigarettes in the sea breeze.
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It still strikes me as odd when I see people smoking inside public buildings, and it isn鈥檛 frowned upon to light up at your desk in most Cuban workplaces.
And therein lies the problem.Cancer is the second biggest cause of death in Cuba, after cardiovascular disease, and are among the highest in the region, according to the World Heath Organization.
But Cuban researchers are helping lead the fight against the disease. They recently added a new weapon to the arsenal against lung cancer: Cimavax. This vaccine 鈥� designed to be given to people with cancer 鈥� encourages the immune system to attack a protein that fuels tumour growth, slowing the disease鈥檚 spread.
鈥淭he basic idea is to mobilise the immune system so the components which typically defend you are able to fight the cancer cells growing inside the body,鈥� says Kaleb Leon, director of investigation and research at the in Havana, where the drug was developed.
There is one key reason why Cuba punches above its weight in the medical research arena: research and treatment are tightly connected in the Cuban healthcare system. , a group of US neuroscientists including Mark Cohen of the University of California, Los Angeles, noted the benefits of this 鈥渢wo-way communication between the lay public and research scientists in the cause of public health鈥� (). They cited large-scale population studies which 鈥渞outinely achieve more than 95 per cent enrolment success鈥�.
Partly because of this connection, the team at CIM has made significant progress with clinical trials of Cimavax. from phase I and II clinical trials showed that those vaccinated survived for 11 months on average, while the survival rate in a control group was four to five months (Human Vaccines, ).
And the work has attracted international interest. On his recent trade visit to the island, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, brought representatives from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. They have now signed an agreement with CIM to further test and develop Cimavax in the US.
鈥淎n agreement has been signed to further test and develop Cuba鈥檚 cancer vaccine in the US鈥�
Leon is clearly proud of his team鈥檚 achievements as he guides me around the national immunology lab, housed in a modernist building on the outskirts of Havana.
鈥淩oswell Park has been in touch with us for about three years now,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he plan is to start a phase I clinical trial there at the end of this year.鈥�
But he admits it hasn鈥檛 been easy. For over five decades, the US government has maintained an economic and diplomatic embargo on communist-run Cuba, which has made it almost impossible for researchers in the two nations to work together.
This year鈥檚 PNAS article emphasised the benefits to the US of closer cooperation. 快猫短视频s in Havana, too, are aware that they would benefit from further detente.
鈥淚n many different senses this weird relationship we have with the US has caused problems for us,鈥� says Leon. The US forbids third nations from selling equipment containing US-made components to Cuba, for example.
But 2015 has seen quite a turnaround for these cold war enemies, including a face-to-face meeting between presidents Obama and Castro, diplomatic ties re-established and embassies reopened.
If the thaw is to last, however, it must take hold in arenas beyond diplomacy. Cancer patients on both sides of the Straits of Florida will hope biomedical research can benefit from this new-found spirit of cooperation.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淯S-Cuba thaw may yield cancer drugs鈥�
