ES / EN
- August 20, 2022 -
No Result
View All Result
OnCubaNews Needs You
OnCubaNews
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors
OnCubaNews
ES / EN
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Coronavirus

Pan-Corona: Cuban-Chinese research to anticipate next epidemics

“All the predictions and scientific rationality indicate that unfortunately we will have to suffer new epidemics as a logical result of the increase in world population, animal production and the movement of people,” explained Dr. Gerardo Guillén, director of Biomedical Research at CIGB.

by Lorena Cantó / EFE
April 26, 2021
in Coronavirus, Science in Cuba
0
Pan-Corona research

An employee inspects syringes for the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac at its Beijing factory. Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP/Archive.

Scientists from Cuba and China want to anticipate future pandemics by investigating a potential generic vaccine that protects against different types of coronavirus and possible emerging variants.

The Pan-Corona project is based on a joint biotechnology research and development center operating since 2019 in the city of Yongzhou (central Hunan province) and is led by experts from the Caribbean island’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).

“All the predictions and scientific rationality indicate that, unfortunately, we will have to suffer new epidemics as a logical result of the increase in world population, animal production and the movement of people,” explained Dr. Gerardo Guillén, director of Biomedical Research of the CIGB, in an interview with EFE.

BREAKING. #Cuba & #China team up on #PANCORONA, new #COVID19 #vaccine, especially designed to offer cross protection against existing and future strains. Developing in joint biotech innovation center in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, staffed by Cuban scientists, equipped by China. pic.twitter.com/PMZIfXYIhJ

— GailReedMEDICC (@MediccGail) March 21, 2021

The initiative focuses on coronaviruses not only due to the global crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 but also taking into account that this family of viruses is one of the most likely to jump from animals to humans (a phenomenon called zoonosis), with antecedents such as MERS or SARS-CoV-1.

How is a generic vaccine made?

Related Posts

Child vaccination in Cuba during the pandemic. Photo: Modesto Gutiérrez Cabo/ACN/Archive.

Cuba announces clinical trials in children under two years of age to immunize them against SARS-CoV-2

May 11, 2022
The national director of Epidemiology, quoted by Prensa Latina news agency, explained that the measures imposed by the health authorities are maintained at all points of entry into the country, such as physical distancing, washing hands and cleaning surfaces, and the mandatory use of the mask. Photo: Kaloian.

Health protocols: Cuba to stop requiring PCR and vaccination certificate from travelers

April 5, 2022
Photo: Kaloian

Two years of pandemic in the Cuban calendar

March 12, 2022
A nurse gets ready to apply a dose of the Cuban COVID-19 Abdala vaccine. Photo: Modesto Gutiérrez Cabo/ACN/Archive.

Is booster vaccination at a standstill in Cuba?

March 8, 2022

“We have learned from what has been happening in recent years and we would be naive if we did not prepare for possible new emergencies. China knows this too,” he said.

Thus, in February of last year, with the COVID-19 pandemic in its infancy, the CIGB presented this project to a call from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and obtained funding to start investigating “something different,” given that “everybody in the world” was already working on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Pan-Corona is a recombinant-type antigen, which is the vaccine development platform in which the CIGB has the most experience, with a successful history such as the one for hepatitis B, in addition to two of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates, one of them (Abdala) in the last phase of clinical trials.

“We are not starting from scratch or trying something unprecedented, therefore we trust that we will move forward quickly,” he said and recalled that the institution has more than 50 research projects, not only in vaccines but also in oncology, infectious diseases, cardioprotection or autoimmunity.

Cuba and China to develop a vaccine against new strains of the coronavirus

The vaccine candidate, the scientist explained, combines two immune response mechanisms: the humoral, which is the antibody response, and the cellular, which are cells activated to fight the virus.

“We are looking, among the different coronaviruses, for conserved regions for both antibody and cellular responses,” he added.

In other words: a vaccine is being designed that artificially combines common fragments of different types of already known coronavirus, with the aim of inducing an antibody response in the body.

Scientific globalization

Bioinformatics and modeling groups from the CIGB have worked in the design. Their task has been to study and select the “regions” that are conserved in both human and animal samples of the virus, to be able to combine them in a single vaccine.

The vast amount of information shared by the international scientific community in the wake of the current pandemic has been key to making rapid progress on this initiative. “Hopefully this will continue,” Guillén said.

The fact that there are more than 300 vaccine candidates developing at the same time in the world, more than 80 of them in clinical studies and thirteen already authorized vaccines “is something unprecedented in humanity,” the expert stressed.

But ironically, the new coronavirus pandemic, a determining factor in the conception of this project, is also the factor that is weighing it down.

Dr. Gerardo Guillén, director of Biomedical Research at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), speaks during an exclusive interview with EFE on April 15, 2021, in Havana. Photo: Ernesto Mastrascusa/EFE.

The knowledge accumulated in recent months has propelled the work, but the Cuban scientists leading the Pan-Corona research have not yet been able to travel to China due to border closures and strict entry requirements.

Research under embargo

Being able to do research in situ in Yongzhou is crucial in this case because of access to advanced technology, materials and other resources, something that in Cuba is impossible due to the acute economic crisis the country is experiencing and the obstacles imposed by the United States embargo also reinforced in recent years.

“The blockade (as the embargo is called in Cuba) is an enormous limitation, even the increase in the price of raw materials, which for Cuba is double, triple, quadruple because we cannot bring them directly from the United States, which is the closest market and where most of these inputs we need are produced. Also the limitation with the equipment, the spare parts…,” Guillén added.

These obstacles, however, have also made the island’s scientists more creative: “without a doubt, the blockade has forced us to innovate because others could have the things they need and we have to find other ways to achieve the same result.”

“We don’t have such and such a reagent, well, how can we replace it, how can we change the process,” he noted.

Author

Lorena Cantó / EFE
Tags: Cuba and ChinaCuban vaccine against COVID-19Pan-Corona
Previous Post

Cuban cuisine in photos: what my mom taught me about cooking

Next Post

Iran begins phase III of clinical trials with Cuban Soberana 02 vaccine candidate

Lorena Cantó / EFE

Lorena Cantó / EFE

Next Post
In the image, a sample the Cuban Soberana 02 vaccine, on February 25, 2021, in Havana (Cuba). Photo: Ernesto Mastrascusa/EFE/Archive.

Iran begins phase III of clinical trials with Cuban Soberana 02 vaccine candidate

Bridges of Love Caravan in Miami, Sunday, April 25, 2021

Bridges from everywhere

Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez

Cuba reports 1,083 new infections and seven deaths from coronavirus

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

Most Read

  • Cubans waiting for paperwork prior to traveling. Photo: Kaloian.

    Cuba: measures making non-commercial imports more flexible come into force

    15 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • Cuba’s Mariel Special Development Zone: when promises aren’t kept

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • What foods can be brought to Cuba and what imports are forbidden?

    186 shares
    Share 74 Tweet 47
  • Cuba allows foreign investment in wholesale and retail trade

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • Cuba: purchase of foreign currency from population announced

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

Most Commented

  • The new U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Havana, Benjamin Ziff. Photo: Archive.

    Biden Administration appoints new charge d’affaires to head embassy in Havana

    15 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • The ruins of rural Cuba: little known historical relics.

    33 shares
    Share 13 Tweet 8
  • Tragedy: two Cubans die, 10 disappear and eight survive when boat capsizes south of Key West

    15 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • What foods can be brought to Cuba and what imports are forbidden?

    186 shares
    Share 74 Tweet 47
  • Roberlandy Simon: I am still a Cuban

    2 shares
    Share 1 Tweet 1
  • About us
  • Work with OnCuba
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Moderation policy for comments
  • Contact us
  • Advertisement offers

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • Cuba
  • Cuba-USA
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Infographic
  • Culture
    • Billboard
  • Sports
  • Styles / Trends
  • Media
  • Special
  • Cuban Flavors

OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions.
OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version