Cuban biotechnology specialists meet in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 7 (acn) A national meeting of Cuban biotechnology specialists working in the extension to the population of treatments with Heberprot-P®, drug used with remarkable results in diabetic foot ulcers, will take place today and tomorrow in this city.

Headquartered at Comodoro Hotel, the event, aimed at the integration of medicinal products for human and agricultural branches use, also includes GAVAC® vaccine, which favors the survival rate of cattle by combating ticks, Iris Lugo, communication specialist of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB by its Spanish acronym), told ACN.
At that meeting, both programs will be updated in each province, and agreements will be taken for their best quality impact that will mark the future work for the benefit of the population, main objective of CIGB during the 30th anniversary of its foundation by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
PhD. Manuel Raices, CIGB scientist, told ACN that since 2007, the Heberprot-P therapy has massively expanded in Cuba and is present in about 380 health centers.
This novel drug has been applied to more than 55 000 Cubans and has diminished the relative risk of amputation for diabetic foot ulcers in Cuba in more than 71%.
During 2015, more than 12 000 Cuban patients with diabetic foot ulcers had access to this therapy and so far this year, about 8 515 persons have been treated with Heberprot-P, and the relative risk of amputation was reduced by more than 80 %, he said.
Raices acknowledged the efforts of the centers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries grouped in BioCubaFarma, health institutions and the active contribution of patients and their families.
Some 243,000 people affected by diabetic foot ulcers from 23 countries have been treated with Heberprot-P, noted Raices.
Meanwhile, GAVAC® is a Cuba drug very effective in controlling ticks and besides being economic is ecological and does not pollute the environment, experts say.
Developed since the last decade of the last century by CIGB in Camagüey province, this product has been widely accepted not only in Cuba but also in other nations because it has wide international demand.