wired | Cuba has for several years
had a promising therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer. The 55-year
trade embargo led by the US made sure that Cuba was mostly where it
stayed. Until—maybe—now.
The Obama administration has, of course, been trying to normalize
relations with the island nation. And last month, during New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo’s visit to Havana, Roswell Park Cancer Institute finalized
an agreement with Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology to develop a
lung cancer vaccine and begin clinical trials in the US. Essentially, US
researchers will bring the Cimavax vaccine stateside and get on track
for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
“The chance to evaluate a vaccine like this is a very exciting
prospect,” says Candace Johnson, CEO of Roswell Park. She’s excited,
most likely, because research on the vaccine so far shows that it has
low toxicity, and it’s relatively cheap to produce and store. The Center
for Molecular Immunology will give Roswell Park all of the
documentation (how it’s produced, toxicity data, results from past
trials) for an FDA drug application; Johnson says she hopes to get
approval for testing Cimavax within six to eight months, and to start
clinical trials in a year.
How did Cuba end up with a cutting edge immuno-oncology drug? Though
the country is justly famous for cigars, rum, and baseball, it also has
some of the best and most inventive biotech and medical research in the
world. That’s especially notable for a country where the average worker
earns $20 a month. Cuba spends a fraction of the money the US does on
healthcare per individual; yet the average Cuban has a life expectancy
on par with the average American. “They’ve had to do more with less,”
says Johnson, “so they’ve had to be even more innovative with how they
approach things. For over 40 years, they have had a preeminent
immunology community.”
Despite decades of economic sanctions, Fidel and Raul Castro made
biotechnology and medical research, particularly preventative medicine, a
priority. After the 1981 dengue fever outbreak struck nearly 350,000
Cubans, the government established the Biological Front, an effort to
focus research efforts by various agencies toward specific goals. Its
first major accomplishment was the successful (and unexpected)
production of interferon, a protein that plays a role in human immune
response. Since then, Cuban immunologists made several other vaccination
breakthroughs, including their own vaccines for meningitis B and
hepatitis B, and monoclonal antibodies for kidney transplants.
11 comments:
Cuba has made many medical advancements and developed effective treatments because they don't have the restrictive research protocols, i.e., if you kill or injure some people in failed experiments, research, or treatments, it's no big deal. No FDA. And you can't call 1-800-LAW-SUIT if you have a bad outcome,....
of course BD..., that's what it is.
At the very least, health providing in America should be made No-Fault. Up to you to select competent providers, and opt for services at your own risk. None of this 1-800 crap. No malpractice insurance or unnecessary doc's CYA tests/treatments. Would halve the costs....
BD, what you've written on this thread is conspicuously false to even the minimally informed observer http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/09/412964072/highest-charging-u-s-hospitals-are-for-profit-and-concentrated-in-florida
That's Dawn for you. He knows what he knows and ain't nobody gonna learn him nothing different.
lol, the worst part of all of it is that he knows nothing whatsoever about research protocols in Cuba, stated that chindribble as though it was fact, and then doubled down with "uhmurka sucks compared to Cuba because of its litigious parasites" when the simple truth of the matter is that healthcare in America is egregiously and arbitrarily overpriced because the medical profession(s) are systemically complicit in some vile price gouging when their patient/victims are most vulnerable.
This is a textbook example of an American killer-ape ethology in which a specific band of chimps immorally enriches itself by preying upon other more vulnerable bands of chimps. .
"Ooooo,.. yeah...umh...I'm going to hafta go ahead and sort of disagree with you there..."
Was too busy to spell it out yesterday...
BD's source was an acquaintance who went to Cuba 30 yrs ago to get treatment for an eye disease for which no effective treatment was available in the USA. His stateside doc told him he would slowly go blind and there was nothing he could do about it. He found out from a support group that Cuba had effective treaatment available, except travel there for US citizens was prohibited. The support group knew how to beat that, however. You went to Canada and signed up for a certain travel agency package that got you in and out of Cuba without it showing on your passport. Then when re-entering the USA on return trip, if asked where you've been you just lie like a MFk'n Obama. https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
He still has usable vision today....
lol, source for what, an anecdote that underscores what was never in contention? We all agree that healthcare, medical and biological technology in Cuba is remarkably advanced - and in many regards - superior to what is available in the U.S.
I claim that that's due to cultural and ethical superiority, that Cuba has of necessity dispensed with prestige culture, conspicuous consumption and the compulsion to cheat that has wormed its way through all walks and levels of American culture resulting in a fin d'siecle miasma that is rotten to its very core. I claim that Cuban medicine is superior because its science is clean, ethical, and focused on preserving and prolonging life and increasing quality of life for Cuban citizens. My high regard for Cuba and its differences is well documented. http://subrealism.blogspot.com/search?q=cuba
The U.S. medical industrial complex fails a basic test of competence: persistent achievement. The diagnostic for the existence of competence is consistency. The U.S. medical industrial complex can't even consistently price medical goods and services. What you pretended to wish for above (but really only wish on others) At the very least, health providing in America should be made No-Fault.
Up to you to select competent providers, and opt for services at your
own risk.Is simultaneously despicable and dispositive of exactly what's wrong with healthcare in Uhmurkah.
@CNu..."The U.S. medical industrial complex can't even consistently price medical goods and services. "
Right. A physical at some inner city walk-in clinic should cost the same as at the Mayo Clinic....?? ROTFLMAO.... In the USA, if you want quality, you have to pay for it. In a free enterpise system, you can charge what your performance and reputation can demand.
@CNu..."I claim that [ Cuba's medical care areas of superiority are ] due to cultural and ethical superiority..." BD's source got the whole scoop when he was down there. The occasional Cuban breakthroughs arise simply from reduced regulation. All-in-all, USA medicine is far superior to elsewhere in the world. That's why those filthy-rich cost-no-object Middle-East Fuzzy-Prince types come here for their organ transplants, instead of going to Cuba.....
um..., it's actually likely to cost less at the Mayo because the Mayo was an early adopter of informatics and a model of operational efficiency. This would all be familiar to you if you had any knowledge of the subject matter as anything other than a befuddled consumer. http://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/07/05/mayo_health_care_cost_control This is pafrticularly apparent in NYC, where there is an overabundance of really wealthy folks. The better docs there don't evenF
with insurance. They bill you for whatever amount they want, like an
attorney, and you pay it...no messy paperwork - and no shortage of
customers.lol, your lack of Kahneman has now breached crisis level. Go directly to the chapters on the illusion of skill and validity.
As for palming off the medical industrial crisis on Obama, you would do better to place that sack'o'scat at the feet of Dr. Bill Frist. I don't know if you'll recall my tall tale from back in the day, however, when I did my rotation through the Bank of Boston's venture capital division, one of my assignments was to extend a series of financial projections for HCA (for internal analytical purposes) which was in the initial rounds of fundraising to kick off what became a wave of hospital privatizations. That multi-decade tsunami of for-profit privatizations has had a far more profound effect on the quality and cost of medical care than anything you could ever cook up and attempt to pin on the Hon.Bro.Preznit.
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