US scientists welcome Cuban lung cancer vaccine

HAVANA, Cuba, May 6 (acn) The Washington-based Lung Cancer Alliance welcomed reports that a Cuban lung cancer vaccine will soon be tested in the United States through the work of the Roswell Park Institute. According to international media the therapeutic vaccine known as Cimavax will soon enter the US and may benefit American cancer patients.

"We believe that treatments should be available to all patients and that politics and geography should not prohibit the drug development process," reads a statement on the webpage of the Lung Cancer Alliance.

"The development of Cimavax is particularly exciting as it would represent a new class of therapeutics for lung cancer – a vaccine that primes the immune system, similarly to the flu shot or common childhood vaccines."

The Lung Cancer Alliance was founded in 1995 to meet the needs of lung cancer patients and those at risk by improving outcomes, eliminating stigma and securing public health research funding.

In 2010 Lung Cancer Alliance began its first awareness program. Since then, Lung Cancer Alliance has developed many programs focused on lung cancer awareness: "Give a Scan," "National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer," and "Team Lung Love," have helped create awareness in the United States and internationally.

In February 2012, Lung Cancer Alliance took on its first major initiative, creating a national framework for lung cancer screening. In June 2012, it launched its national "No One Deserves To Die" campaign to help raise awareness and change the stigma associated with lung cancer. By the end of the campaign, more than 281 million impressions were made and market research proved a shift in sentiment
around lung cancer, according to public information.

Meanwhile, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) (founded 1898) is a cancer research and treatment center located in Buffalo, New York founded by Dr. Roswell Park. The center was the first dedicated medical facility for cancer treatment and research in the United States, and is the only upstate New York facility to hold the National Cancer Institute designation of "comprehensive cancer center."