HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 24 (ACN) With nearly 200 patients, a clinical trial of the drug Cimavax EGF against lung cancer in primary health care (PHC) is being developed in Cuba to evaluate other parameters in order to increase the effectiveness of the first vaccine of its type registered in the world.
The study aims at determining the basal concentrations of epidermal growth factor (EGF), in the beneficiaries of that therapeutic vaccine, which, although it does not cure or make tumors disappear, contributes to increased survival and quality of life.
The measurement of this parameter will allow more precise data on the behavior, in a broader population of patients, of EGF, which stimulates tumor growth and is one of the targets against which the novel vaccine, registered in 2008 by the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM).
During a recent event held in this city, Pedro Pablo Guerra, project manager of the National Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials, said that this will contribute to increase the effectiveness of the drug and the benefit of patients.
The scheme of application of the aforementioned test, which links hospital care with PHC, also favors the comfort of the vaccine patients, since Cimavax EGF is prescribed in stages III and IV of lung cancer, where the condition Health is weakened.
Guerra explained that the first dose is administered in the secondary health care level, and then the patients are referred to the polyclinics in their health area, where four other vaccines are applied every 14 days, plus maintenance doses every 28, as permitted by the clinical status of the patient.
With a two-year extension, this clinical trial is intended to include at least one polyclinic in each municipality of the country and include half a thousand patients, complying with the good clinical practices required by a study of this type, said the specialist.
Dr. Tania Crombet, Director of Clinical Research at the CIM, explained that although Cimavax EGF is still open for testing, it is a drug included in the basic chart since 2012, so it is indicated to those who need it and respond to its criteria.
The monoclonal antibody Nimotuzumab, also developed by the CIM, and Cimavax EGF, are the first licensed Cuban drugs for clinical trials in the United States, both of which are tested for the treatment of lung tumors, the leading cause of cancer mortality of this country and Cuba.
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