Cuba tests synthetic peptides in the treatment of several diseases

HAVANA, Cuba, May 23 (ACN) The Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB by its Spanish acronym) is developing several products for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases, which are in clinical trials and have demonstrated safety and evidence of efficacy.

Hilda Elisa Garay Perez, head specialist of the Synthetic Peptides Group of the Biomedical Research Directorate of that institution, told the Cuban News Agency that the peptides CIGB-300 and CIGB-552 are being evaluated for cancer therapeutics.

Another of the center's projects is related to the development of a therapeutic vaccine against advanced prostate cancer, a product known as Heberprovac, which is aimed at generating an antibody response against the synthetic peptide Pyr-GnRHm1-TT, she added.

Garay Perez, who is also PhD in Chemical Sciences, a senior researcher and specialist in advanced technology, pointed out that the studies related to these molecules are also focused on rheumatoid arthritis, with CIGB-814, and HIV, by means of the antiviral CIGB-210.

Some of these therapeutic candidates, among them CIGB-300 and CIGB-814, were also used in SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus-positive patients, and one of those that had the greatest impact on this disease was CIGB-814 (CIGB-258), known as Jusvinza, its commercial name, the scientist continued.

CIGB's biomedical research portfolio includes products based on recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides, and the Synthetic Peptides Group, led by Hilda Garay Perez, has the privilege of being present from the research stage to product scale-up in phase I and II clinical trials.