Cuban vaccine against chronic hepatitis B undergoing clinical trials

A new Cuban-made vaccine against chronic hepatitis B has entered clinical trials in Cuba and eight countries and regions in Oceania and Asia with the help of French company Abivax, local media reported on Tuesday.

HeberNasvac, developed by the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) in Havana and administered through nasal and subcutaneous injections, is "more effective and safer than the other existing methods in the world" against this illness, Iris Lugo Carro, a specialist in CIGB's Communication Group, told state daily Granma Tuesday.

The clinical evaluation studies were approved by regulatory authorities in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and China's Taiwan and Hong Kong, the expert said.

Cuba hopes to start using the vaccine in 2016 after obtaining approval from the national health authorities.

Chronic hepatitis is provoked by the hepatitis B virus which is one of the main causes of liver cancer, cirrhosis and other complications such as esophageal varices.

Around 780,000 people die every year from infection caused by this virus, according to figures updated in July by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Cuba's Health Ministry announced in November 2014 that it was working on "highly innovative, safe and efficient" preventative vaccines against cholera, pneumococcus and hepatitis B to be administered this year.

With more than 30 years of experience, Cuban biotechnology has become an important source of income for the Caribbean island.

Cuban medicines are sold to 40 countries all over the world, including China. Medicines sold abroad include vaccines against meningitis and typhoid fever, and treatment for ulcers that has avoided a large number of amputations, Cuban experts said.

Another well-known Cuban vaccine is the pentavalent against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and the haemophilus influenza type B.

Heberprovac against prostate cancer is also a widely recognized vaccine developed by the CIGB.

Cuba is also working on a vaccine against typhoid fever affecting around 26.9 million people in the world, especially in countries in the south of Southeast Asia, along with another vaccine against the various strains of dengue.

Prestigious British scientific magazine "Nature" has classified Cuba's biotechnological industry as the most stable and with the best results among all the developing nations. Endi