Health News: United States Will Soon Get Cuba's Lung Cancer Vaccine
Known for their excellent tobacco, Cuba is now about to be known for an exciting new lung cancer vaccine.
The communist country has been promising a therapeutic vaccine against the disease for years. But U.S. Citizens, because of more than 50 years of a trade embargo on Cuba, had next to no chance of enjoying the benefits of any Cuban medical science.
However, as relations between the two countries improve, this cancer cure might be coming to the U.S. soon.
In April, when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited Havana, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute finalized an agreement with Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology to develop a lung cancer vaccine and initiate clinical trials in the U.S., according to Bloomberg.
What this means is that U.S. researchers will bring the Cimavax vaccine back to the U.S. and prepare the potential lifesaver for Food and Drug Administration approval.
Cuomo spoke of the benefits he was already seeing as the U.S. and Cuba resumed trade ties, saying: “It affirms the feeling I had coming down that normalization of relationships between our special countries is the exact right way to go.”
“There’s no doubt that developing these mutual business relationships that are proven, that assist Cuba and also work for the companies, is a big part of moving forward,” he added.
As reported in Wired, Candace Johnson, the CEO of Roswell Park, expressed her own enthusiasm about the exchange of medical data, saying: “The chance to evaluate a vaccine like this is a very exciting prospect.”
Although it may seem surprising that a small country like Cuba, where the average worker earns $20 a month, could be capable of such a fantastic medical breakthrough, Johnson sees the vaccine as proof of the country's creativity and practicality amid relative poverty, saying: “They’ve had to do more with less.”
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