Cuban scientist at the forefront of the new vaccine
generation
José A. Acosta
Havana – August, 27. An extensive cover story on a new
vaccine generation was
published by the magazine Chemical & Engineering News (Ch&EN,
Aug 9, 82 (32): 31-
35). According to this prestigious publication, in spite
of many synthetic carbohydrate
vaccines are being developed and tested, the first commercial
vaccine
was approved last November in Cuba and is now part of its national
vaccination
program. The new vaccine (QuimiHib®) have several advantages:
i-) production cost
is lower than conventional vaccines based on carbohydrates
from natural sources, ii-)
it can be produced as homogeneous single compound in a control
manner, iii-) little
or no batch-to-batch variability during manufacturing process,
iv-) permit higher
quality control standards, compared to the use of naturally
derived agents and v-)
synthetic carbohydrates can be modify to make vaccines more
immunogenic than
those based on natural carbohydrates.
In clinical trials phase II, 99.7% of the test infants reached
antibody titres above
those considered appropriate for long-lived protection against
Hib. The success of
QuimiHib® demonstrates that access to synthetic complex carbohydrate
-based
vaccines is feasible and pro vides a basis for further development
of similar
approaches for other human pathogens.
QuimiHib® is part of the partnership opportunities offered
by the CIGB for the
registration and commercialization of innovative pharmaceutical
products in
developed countries. This product has been included within
the CIGB’s
negotiation
portfolio, which has been published in the web site http://gndp.cigb.edu.cu
, to
facilitate the access to the medical community, companies and
research institutions
to the most up to date R&D results.
For more detail information about the Cuban biotech sector
you will visit
http://gndp.cigb.edu.cu , www.cim.sld.cu .
About CIGB
Heber Biotec
SA is the commercial branch of the Center for
Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (CIGB). The CIGB is one of the Centers of the
Scientific Pole in Cuba
devoted to research, development and manufacturing of human
biotech and agro bio
products, and Heber Biotec is the marketing company. CIGB utilizes
its platform
technology and development capabilities to facilitate the rapid,
cost-effective
discovery and development of novel drugs.
Contact person:
Ernesto López Mola
Business Development Group, GNDP
CIGB
Phone: (53 7) 271 2397
Fax: (53 7) 33 6008
Email: ernesto.lopez@cigb.edu.cu
Web page: http://gndp.cigb.edu.cu
