India’s Drug Regulatory Authority has approved exceptional use of the Cuban drug Itolizumab to treat severe patients with COVID-19, reported Eduardo Ojito Magaz, director of Cuba’s Molecular Immunology Center (CIM), on Twitter.
Winner of a National Prize from the Cuban Academy of Sciences in 2014, this humanized monoclonal antibody has been part of the medical care protocol for COVID-19 in Cuba since April.
The World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2015 Gold Medal winner, Itolizumab is a molecule that was developed by CIM for the treatment of lymphomas and leukemias. The antibody is capable of blocking the proliferation and activation of T-lymphocytes, behaving as an immunomodulator.
In a study on the island, 60% of COVID patients in serious or critical condition, who received the medication, recovered their respiratory functioning and survived these severe stages of the disease, as reported on the BioCubaFarma website.
Thanks to the vision of Comandante en Jefe (Commander in chief) Fidel Castro, Cuba has developed a powerful biotechnology industry, which has focused on saving lives during the epidemic, in Cuba and around the world.
The prestige of this sector’s accomplishments continues to rise, with evidence abounding of the effectiveness of the antiviral Recombinant Human Interferon Alpha 2b in the treatment of COVID-19.
During this difficult time, interest in acquiring Cuban interferon, distributed internationally under the name of Heberon, has been expressed by some 80 countries.
Source: Granma
Well done…congrats to the Cubans for the noble innovation