Cuba to Release Cholera Vaccine by 2015

Cuba will release a new preventive vaccine against cholera in 2015, a state-owned pharmaceutical group who developing the drug announced Sunday.

Gustavo Sierra Gonzalez, the Vice President of the BioCubaFarma told the daily Juventud Rebelde that the clinical trials had been very successful, and that the proper health registration for the drug is expected to come next year.

Gonzalez said that the Cuban population would be vaccinated and that the drug would also be hand to the World Health Organization (WHO) for global use.

“Starting 2015, we will start protecting the whole population of the country and we are already prepared to increase its production to export it to other nations, including delivering it to the WHO,” he added.

Although a few cases of the disease were reported on the island, public health officials were able to control it rapidly and prevent its spread.

“Although the level of attention provided to those people who contracted the virus on the island makes it so that they practically do not run any risk because they are quickly treated, this illness can kill,” said Gonzalez.

The export of medicine and medical equipment represent about US$900 million every year for the island, making it the second biggest export industry for Cuba after the nickel.

Cuban medical research has already developed four vaccines, including a vaccine against advanced lung cancer developed in 2012 with clinical tests carried out in over 80 countries. Although the drug does not cure cancer, the tumors have been found to reduced in size, improving the health and life expectancy of the patients.

The Molecular Immunology Center, located in Havana, also created the Meningitis-B vaccine in 1985, as well as for Hepatitis-B and Dengue later on.

According to a 2010 Science Magazine article, written by Stanford University scientists Paul K. Drain and Michele Barry, Cuba had better health indicators than the United States, with 20 times less resources per capita, thanks to effective preventive approaches and a pharmaceutical model that is not based on profit.