Cuba creates four anti-cancer vaccines, media ignores it

[jdhoch]

That Cuba has already developed four vaccines or inoculations against different types of cancer (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2011/11/08/ciencias/a02n1cie) is without doubt important news for humanity. The World Health Organisation says each year about 8 million people (http://www.lapagina.com.sv/nacionales/61996/2012/02/04/Cada-ano-76-millones-de-personas-mueren-de-cancer-revelan-estudios) die from this illness.
However, the international mainstream media have almost totally ignored this news.
Last year, Cuba patented the first therapeutic vaccine against advanced lung cancer (http://actualidad.rt.com/ciencias/view/32388-Cuba-lanza-primera-vacuna-contra-c%C3%A1ncer-de-pulm%C3%B3n) in the world, called CIMAVAX-EGF. In January, the second one, called Racotumomab (http://www.prensalibre.com/salud/Desarrollan-segunda-vacuna-cancer-pulmon_0_839316125.html), was announced.
Clinical testing in 86 countries shows that these vaccines, although they don’t cure the illness, do managed to reduce tumours and allow for a stable stage of the illness, thereby increasing hope and quality of life.
The Molecular Immunology Centre of Havana, a Cuban state organisation, is the creator of all these vaccines.
In 1985 it developed the vaccine for meningitis B (http://www.nnc.cubaweb.cu/clasificados/ciencia/ciencia1.htm), the only one in the world, and later others that fight hepatitis B and dengue (http://ipsnoticias.net/nota.asp?idnews=96327). For years, the centre has been conducting research to develop vaccines against AIDS-HIV (http://www.telesurtv.net/articulos/2012/03/07/cientificos-cubanos-probaran-vacuna-contra-el-sida-en-humanos).
The other Cuban state-run centre, Laboratories LABIOFAM, has developed homeopathic medicine for cancer such as VIDATOX (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/07/12/index.php?section=ciencias&article=a02n1cie&partner=rss), created from the blue scorpion’s venom. Cuba exports these medicines to 26 countries, and takes part in joint companies with China, Canada, and Spain.
All of this goes against the well-enforced stereotype, reinforced by the media silence regarding advances achieved by Cuba and other global south (so-called Third World) countries, that vanguard medical research takes place only in so-called developed countries.
Undoubtedly, the Cuban state obtains an economic benefit from the international sale of these pharmaceutical products. However, its philosophy of investigation and commercialisation is diametrically opposed to the business practices of the large pharmaceutical industry.



MORE...

http://www.systemiccapital.com/cuba-creates-four-anti-cancer-vaccines-media-ignores-it/

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

has developed homeopathic medicine for cancer such as VIDATOX

Does not make sense at all. Homoepathy is utter nonsense.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

The other Cuban state-run centre, Laboratories LABIOFAM, has developed homeopathic medicine for cancer such as VIDATOX, created from the blue scorpion’s venom. Cuba exports these medicines to 26 countries, and takes part in joint companies with China, Canada, and Spain.

Good grief. I hope that the word was somehow hilariously mistranslated, but a quick look at the LABIOFAM website indicates that this is probably not the case. Homeopathy is unscientific. Homeopathy is idealist. Worst of all, homeopathy is selling water to the ill at outrageous prices.

That a centre under the direct supervision of a workers' state would do such a thing is... bad. Just bad.

I hope the other medication mentioned in the article is, at least, based on scientific medical knowledge and not superstition. Given the strong focus on the medical and bioindustry in Cuba, this is probably the case.

[Tenka]

Wouldn't it be sad if they accidentally found some unknown medicinal property of scorpion venom and let the centuried ignorant non-medicine known as homeopathy take the credit? I thought Cuba's doctors were good. :(

[Red Commissar]

CIMAVAX-EGF and Racotumomab seem to have been studied in some trials, though they are not complete yet. So far they seem to show they can be used as part of a treatment regiment, but it should be noted that they are for a specific type of lung cancer- Non-small cell lung cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004462/) (NSCLC)- and the studies are focusing on trying to test the medications in different settings, chemo combinations, tumor locations, etc. The unfortunate fact is that while you can have media trumpet the effects of some medicine, it means jack unless the results can be reproduced in other studies.

I haven't heard of the Vidatox thing, but it seems to claim that the toxin has smoe natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, which if proven could be useful to treat some negative and painful side effects from chemotherapy. This isn't a cancer cure and even the "official" site trumpeting Vidatox notes that it's a "treatment aid".

The problem with cancer in general is that it's a very difficult thing to treat because of its nature. Its inherently a genetic thing- most of the cancers off the top my head originate from overexpression of "oncogenes". While serving a natural purpose in growth, if left unchecked and unregulated by the usual apoptotic factors, can cause out of control cell growth (unchecked cell division) and with it imperfect DNA replication, which can of course snowball out of control to create tumors and junk DNA that chokes out normal cells. This can be caused by spontaneous mutations piling up over time, exposure to certain carcinogens, even retroviruses. These can operate by either just making oncogenes either operate at such a scale the normal regulation doesn't work, or to eliminate the regulatory pathway all together. It depends on the type of cancer.

So how do you target it specifically? Most drugs are structured to target proteins that the oncogene produces in order to try and prevent it from activating certain pathways in the cell that encourage cell growth. This is what makes chemo so painful to the patient as it essentially does a scorched earth in the body, but if only a handful of cells survive it can cause the cycle to start all over again. The real issue is finding ways to prevent tumors from creeping into the bloodstream- piggy backing onto the natural process of angiogenesis (creation of blood vessels) to metastasize into other parts of the body through the blood stream, which then will greatly complicate how to treat the cancer. Typically when people get cancer remission, it has a significantly increased fatality risk in most forms.

I don't doubt that, at least in the first two treatments, there is some promise but the sources here might be overselling it. As much as I am proud of what Cuba has been able to achieve with its minimal resources in medicine, the reason why it has been ignored is because it needs to be tested in more trials. The Cuban sources indicate again for the first two they were made for people already trying to deal with the disease, rather than trying to nip it when it is in its early stages.