{"id":240020,"date":"2021-06-07T14:59:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T18:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=240020"},"modified":"2021-06-07T15:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T19:01:15","slug":"how-are-cuban-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/coronavirus\/how-are-cuban-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-doing\/","title":{"rendered":"How are Cuban COVID-19 vaccine candidates doing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much has been said in recent months about the <\/span>Cuban COVID-19 vaccines<\/span><\/a>. And it\u2019s obvious. In the midst of a complex economic situation, deepened by the pandemic and the increase in the United States <\/span>embargo<\/span><\/a>, Cuba has been striving to develop its own drugs and vaccine candidates to deal with the infectious disease, experiencing so far this year its worst wave on the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

The immunization of several territories and population groups in special interventions has even begun, although without yet having the authorization for the emergency use of the most advanced candidates, and the authorities maintain the intention of reaching 70% of the population in August, and at the end of the year all Cubans who can and want to be vaccinated. It is not a simple goal, but if it is achieved, the country would be at the forefront of mass vaccination in the world with its own injectables and could, if the transmission is controlled in this way, focus on the peremptory recovery of its economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor has it been easy to get here, as explained this week at a press conference by executives of the BioCubaFarma state group of industries of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, which has shouldered the development of COVID-19 vaccines as \u201ca priority\u201d of its work in the last year. Of the more than 40 projects in which Cuban scientists began to work from the beginning of the pandemic, to the five candidates that finally went on to clinical trials \u2014 <\/span>Soberanas 01<\/span><\/a>, 02 and Plus, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), and Abdala and Mambisa, from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) \u2014, the road has been long and not without obstacles, perseverance and sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of a logical process of study, analysis and selecting, \u201cwe decided to concentrate on working with a single antigen: the receptor-binding domain of the virus or RBD, and we decided that we were going to obtain it from two different sources, based on technologies that we had in the country, which are well known and highly safe: one from yeast \u2014 Abdala and Mambisa \u2014, a platform from which we already obtain other vaccines, and the other from cells of mammals \u2014 the Soberanas<\/em> \u2014, which is another technology with which we have a lot of experience,\u201d stated Dr. Eduardo Mart\u00ednez, president of BioCubaFarma, who added that, in addition, different administration schemes and concentrations of the candidates have been evaluated that finally advanced to human studies after \u201cpositive\u201d preclinical results.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Executives of BioCubaFarma at a press conference on the vaccine candidates and other Cuban COVID-19 drugs. In the image, Eduardo Mart\u00ednez (r), president of the business group, and vice presidents Mayra Mauri (c) and Eulogio Pimentel (l). Photo: Otmaro Rodr\u00edguez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, as is already known, the finalist platoon also distanced itself and the lead was taken by <\/span>Soberana 02<\/span><\/a> and Abdala, the two immunogens that went on to phase 3 trials \u2014 with around 90,000 volunteers between the two \u2014 and are used today in interventions in risk groups and territories \u2014 as part of which at least one dose has already been given to over a million people \u2014, while the remainder have not been ruled out and remain under study, mainly intended as booster doses or for convalescents from COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>data published<\/span><\/a> by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), as of this Thursday 1,431,827 people had had at least one dose of one of the vaccine candidates developed on the island. Of these, 825,411 had been inoculated with two doses and 150 897 have already completed the vaccination scheme. In addition, as part of the clinical trials, intervention studies and health interventions that are being developed in the country, 2,408,135 doses had already been administered, a figure that, moreover, is growing day by day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soberana 02 and Abdala: what is known<\/b><\/p>\n

Although phase 3 of the clinical trials of both vaccine candidates has not yet finished \u2014 although <\/span>the inoculation<\/span><\/a> of the three-dose schemes as part of them has already been concluded \u2014 Cuban specialists have reiterated that the safety and immunogenicity reported so far endorse their commitment to them as COVID-19 vaccines and their use in health interventions currently underway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuban researchers have \u201csufficient data on safety after the application of tens of thousands of doses of the vaccine\u201d and \u201creported adverse events are very low, and are only fundamentally mild and some moderate,\u201d according to the president of BioCubaFarma, who also pointed out that phase 2 clinical trials have shown that \u201cmore than 90%, around 95%, of the people who used the vaccines had an antibody response greater than four times with respect to baseline levels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is to say, there was actually an induction of antibodies after the application of the candidates. And we have demonstrated by different methods, which are validated and used internationally, that these antibodies have the ability to neutralize the virus,\u201d added Mart\u00ednez, for whom \u201cthis element of high immunogenicity, together with the element of safety, led the Ministry of Health Public, based on its prerogatives as the country\u2019s health authority, to approve the health intervention in populations and territories at risk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor this, a rigorous analysis of the risks and benefits of this process was made by experts with a lot of experience, and from that assessment and with the knowledge of the results of research with other vaccines, with all that antecedent, it was decided to carry out the intervention,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a million persons inoculated in Cuba with COVID-19 vaccine candidates<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n