Cuban scientists have recently introduced the revolutionary Heberprot -P drug that has proven effective in the treatment of complex diabetic foot ulcers and in reducing amputations in patients suffering from this disease.
This drug, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology ( IGBC ) in Havana, was presented at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington , in a technical seminar in which Drs Jorge Berlanga and Boris Acevedo exhibited the results obtained with the novel medicine .
In October 2013 the Cuban drug caused controversy in Miami when Congressman Joe Garcia defended the possibility that, under the humanitarian premise, they were allowed to test the drug in the United States.
The statements of the Congressman unleashed a wave of protests opposite to the Cuban government that accused him of pandering to the Cuban government. The congressman said that “it is only medicine.” He acknowledged that there are 70,000 amputations annually in the United States for diabetes and problems and that his mission as a representative is to ensure that citizens have access to the best possible thing that can help. He said: ” If the treatment works , why should not we use it? ” .
Other Cuban-American congressmen and senators opposed the initiative which led to the first fracture in a group that had maintained an uncompromising stance towards any initiative that involved the Cuban government so far.
According to the American Diabetes Association in the United States there are 28.5 million adults and children living with the disease, representing 8.3 percent of the total population. In 2007 alone this scourge killed 231404 Americans. According to statistics, from May 2013, diabetes cost the American taxpayer 245 billion dollars each year.
Recently this medication obtained the license needed to be marketed in Russia, which has high standards for the granting of these licenses. The presentation in the United States is also an unprecedented event showing that the Cuban medical research has prestige and efficiency levels that are at the highest world standards.
Author
Jorge de Armas 
