Why Americans treat cancer in Cuba

Cuba has been under US sanctions for 50 years. And now, for the first time, a unique drug created by Cuban doctors is undergoing clinical trials in the state of New York.

But some Americans are already accepting it, defying the embargo and going to Cuba, writes Air force.

Judy Ingalls will only spend 6 days in Cuba. She and her family intend to walk around Havana and enjoy the local cuisine. Judy is an avid photographer who dreams of capturing the colonial architecture of old Havana.

But the main purpose of coming here 74-year-old American is different. She's going to start taking the drug injections. Cimavaxwhich, according to the assurances of Cuban doctors, extends the life expectancy of patients with lung cancer by months, and sometimes by years.

Although relations between the United States and Cuba have improved under President Obama, treatment in Cuba is still prohibited by US citizens. So Judy violated American law by arriving in Cuba from California.

Judy has lung cancer in the 4 stage. She was diagnosed in December 2015. According to Judy, her oncologist does not know that she is in Cuba. When she asked him about the medicine Cimavaxhe did not know anything about him.

Since January, this drug is undergoing clinical trials for patients in Buffalo, New York, but is not yet approved for use in the United States.

Judy, her husband Bill and daughter Cindy settled at La Pradera International Medical Center west of Havana. Mostly wealthy foreigners are treated here. The center is surrounded by a park with palm trees, has a swimming pool and looks more like a tropical hotel than a hospital.

This trip includes the cost of the drug stock. CimavaxJudy takes her to California with her, costing the family $ 15 thousand.

Preparation Cimavax stimulates the body's immune system and causes it to suppress the protein that accompanies tumor growth in the lung. After the initial treatment, patients should receive a monthly dose of medication.

This medicine is a product of Cuba's biotechnology industry, which began to be created by order of Fidel Castro in the early 1980s.

The irony is that this industry has begun to develop in response to US sanctions against Cuba.

Cuba had to get medicines somewhere that she could no longer buy. Therefore, at first emphasis was placed on the development of simple drugs in local, sometimes primitive conditions.

Now the industry employs about 22 thousands of scientists, technicians and engineers. Cuban medicines are sold in many countries around the world, but not in the USA.

Although Cubans do not wish to declare the cost of production of the drug CimavaxIt is beyond doubt that it is cheaper than many others.

For Cubans themselves, treatment is free. Last September, 65-year-old Lucrezia de Esus Rubillo, who lives on the 5 floor of an apartment building in Havana, was found to be a lung cancer patient.

Doctors gave her 2-3 months of life. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy did not help her, but only made her feel worse.

Then she was prescribed injections of the drug. Cimavax. Now she feels well enough to walk up to her 5 floor, and her cough is almost over. She feels better and started thinking about the future.

Her doctor is Elia Neniger, an oncologist at the Havana Oncology Clinic. Neninger was among the Cuban oncologists who, since the 90s, began treating cancer patients with the drug Cimavax.

“Lucrezia came to us in a wheelchair,” Neninger recalls. “Now the tumor in her lung is gone, as is the damage to her liver.”

In Cuba, oncologists do not usually talk about curing cancer—instead, they talk about controlling it and making it a chronic disease. Neninger treated hundreds of patients with the drug.

“I never thought I would be working on a drug that would improve the lives of so many people,” she says. “I have stage 4 cancer patients who are still alive 10 years after diagnosis.”

But actually the drug Cimavax prolongs life by months, not years. About 20% of patients do not respond to its use.

However, Dr. Kelvin Lee considers the drug a great achievement. He is the head of the immunology department at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, where the drug is being tested.

A special permit had to be obtained for these first American tests of the Cuban drug.

Cancer immunotherapy in the US is becoming more expensive, says Dr. Lee. Cheap vaccine, which can be applied at the level of primary care, is very attractive.

He believes that Cimavax can be used as a prophylactic agent.

But this has not yet been proven, and clinical trials began only in January.

Relations between the United States and Cuba are now in a state of uncertainty. During the election campaign, Trump promised to end the thaw that President Obama had begun, if there were no political changes in Cuba.

But so far Cuba has remained outside the attention of President Trump. There are quite a few Cuban immigrants among American citizens who believe that it does not deserve recognition and the status that will make possible contacts with US companies and institutions, including the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

But Dr. Lee believes that political objections to US cooperation with Cuba are inappropriate.

Judy’s husband, Bill Ingles, says he doesn’t worry too much about the position of the American authorities.

“I indicated that I was coming here for educational purposes,” he says. “And I’m really learning a lot about cancer and its treatment.” I am an honest person, but if necessary, I can lie.”

If Cuban medications had an effect on her, Judy will only find out in 3 of the month when she is being tested in California.

“We decided to take this trip as a family because there is something positive about it. And for the first time since the diagnosis, I feel cheerful,” she says.

Cindy Ingels, her daughter, is a nurse by profession. She will give an injection of the mother's drug when she returns to California.

“Even if she remains in her current condition, that is, if the tumor stops growing, we will be happy,” she says. “And if the tumor starts to shrink, it will be a real miracle.”

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