• Submitted by: Juana
• Havana
• Health and Medicine
• 12 / 22 / 2016

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The CIMAvax-EGF vaccine against lung cancer, created by Cuban scientists at the Center for Molecular Immunology, goes through its last phase of clinical trial in the province of Cienfuegos.
According to Granma newspaper, this is the first therapeutic treatment registered against lung cancer that generates antibodies against the epidermal growth factor (EGF) of the patient.
The antibodies generated by the drug - created in 2011 after three years of research - inhibit and stop the proliferation of tumor cells, thus stabilizing the pathology, increasing survival and ostensibly improving the quality of life in treated patients.
Dr. Yoana Herrera Leyva, a specialist in the First Degree of Clinical Oncology, researcher responsible for clinical trials of lung cancer in Cienfuegos, said that in this phase the response of patients to high and normal doses is being compared, in order to customize the treatment.
Eight patients are involved in the terminal phase of the vaccine trial, but all those who meet the inclusion criteria and present a biopsy diagnosis can be inserted, Herrera noted.
Those who benefit from the vaccine are asymptomatic and surpassing the expected life expectancy for these clinical phases of the disease, the specialist stated. (acn)