"The possibilities of scientific, technological, academic and cultural exchange between the Cuban people and the American people have enormous potential, and this company is an expression of that," President Díaz-Canel stressed yesterday, when he received several executives from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Hospital, a prestigious U.S. scientific institution that, together with the Center for Molecular Immunology of Cuba, created the joint venture Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance SA (IIA).
We are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the joint venture, he recalled, "a venture that for us has a very high significance, and has a lot to do with what we aspire to in the relations between our peoples, and that we can always share everything that can unite us, everything that can build bridges".
In the middle of the working sessions of the Cuban Parliament Commissions, at the Convention Palace, the President welcomed the delegation of scientists led by Dr. Thomas Schwaab, director of Strategic Development of Roswell Park, who are on the island on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of IIA, the first -and so far the only- Cuban-American biotechnology company.
It is a source of pride, said Díaz-Canel, to share this company and this development with one of the most important U.S. entities in the scientific world, and particularly in the world of health.
"We have always been aware of the results of the clinical trials carried out in the U.S., and we feel healthy pride in the results," despite the fact that they have been carried out in such a complex stage as the one we lived through during the pandemic.
We also recognize in you the constancy that you have always had, and the willingness to cooperate and work together," he said.
"In addition to a relationship of cooperation, a relationship of complementarity has already been established. I am one of those who are convinced that, in the present and in the future, we can do many more things. We can work with other drugs, and work on joint developments."
We have a lot of respect and admiration for you, the Head of State acknowledged, not only for what you mean in the scientific and health fields, but also for your courage; I know what it means for a North American institution in these times to be able to have a working relationship like the one you have with Cuba, he stressed.
Dr. Thomas Schwaab considered the meeting with the President "an honor and a pleasure", and spoke about the meeting with the Board of Directors, in which "we analyzed the progress achieved in the last five years".
In fact, he added, we were surprised at how much we had collaborated with each other from the scientific point of view.
We were also analyzing all the things that we had achieved, from the point of view of the publications that have been generated, the patents that have been submitted for registration, and also the issue of value, the value that we have reaped in this joint venture, in fact, we have doubled that value, he said.
Not only that," said the renowned researcher, "but also the way in which we have touched the lives of patients, not only the North Americans who have benefited from Cuban biotechnology, but also Cuban patients.
We have changed their lives, stressed Thomas Schwaab, who considered that this has been fundamental in achieving communication with three different U.S. governments.
On September 26, 2018, a note from the BioCubaFarma Business Group announced the creation of the joint venture IIA, which would be headquartered in the Mariel Special Development Zone.
"This historic step in the scientific collaboration between the two countries," the note noted, "will allow the advancement of research and development of new cancer drugs, which can prolong and improve the survival of thousands of patients in the United States. The new biotechnology company will have among its products the drug CimaVax-egf, a well-known therapy against lung cancer, and three additional immunotherapy treatments for different tumors, developed in Cuba".
SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION IS THE WAY FORWARD
In statements to the presidential press, Cuban engineer and biotechnologist Ernesto Chico Vélez, general director of Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance SA (IIA), noted that, in five years of medical research, "we have managed to bring our lung cancer vaccine to the United States.
"We have been treating American patients, for all these years, with advanced lung cancer, and we have been moving them to earlier-stage lung cancer. We are also treating patients with colon cancer, head and neck cancer, and all of this with good results, he said.
So far," said the executive, who was also at the meeting with the President, "the North American side is very interested in expanding to other drugs that could benefit more patients in the United States, and that is what we have been talking about on our side.
"We have also benefited Cuban patients, because we have taken samples from them and analyzed them in the United States, to improve their treatment." They have also donated medical equipment to our hospitals, they have trained Cuban doctors in advanced techniques. The essence is that this is a medical collaboration for the benefit of patients in both countries, he clarified.
Chico Vélez described this link as a sustained scientific collaboration, in spite of the pandemic, in spite of the difficulties. It is a growing collaboration, he said. There are more than 15 joint international publications, and we have expanded our joint portfolio of drug patents.
"In the meeting with the President, the North American side expressed its satisfaction with the progress of joint medical research and the interest in expanding collaboration, which was also ratified by our authorities".
This creates an important precedent, he said, it is an example of what can be done in medical and scientific collaboration between the two countries, for the benefit of patients in both nations.
The General Director of IIA explained that "this business was created in the midst of the opening, let's put it this way, by the Obama administration. However, after that there were important restrictions that have affected the development of the company, but they have not been able to stop it, that is to say, we have been finding ways to expand the collaboration".
Given the benefits for American patients, he added, this collaboration has been respected by subsequent governments, and at this moment we have the necessary permits to expand the collaboration and continue benefiting many more American and Cuban patients.
The scientific collaboration between Cuba and the United States has always existed, commented the biotechnologist, going through more difficult moments, through less difficult moments, but there is a willingness of the American scientists to collaborate with Cuba openly, especially on the medical side, especially in the field of cancer, which is so sensitive for both countries, he concluded.
