Dr. Agustin Lage, director of the Center of Molecular Immunology, said that biotechnology products play an essential role in cancer therapy, a disease spreading throughout Cuba more and more and constitutes the main obstacle to increasing the life expectancy of nearly 80 years.

Agustin said that the 40 percent of biotech drugs in the world are used in the immunotherapy of malignant tumors, which shows their quality and significance in life expectancy.

During the Sixth Symposium on Advanced Oncology that took place at the Center for Medical-Surgical Research, the doctor highlighted that another contribution of biotechnology would be that the advanced cancer turns into a chronic disease.

For that reason, Lage put special emphasis on the importance of promoting biotechnology in primary health care, and stressed that medical treatments must be compatible with advanced age and other illnesses suffered by cancer patients.

Cuba has registered products such as interferon, erythropoietin, monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic vaccines, which have proved their effectiveness in treatment for myeloid leukemia, melanoma, kidney, and esophagus and lung cancer, among others.

The director of this institution located in the western region of Havana announced that the group is developing four monoclonal antibodies, eight therapeutic vaccines and three polypeptides for cancer treatment and other ailments.

Lage stressed that the biological products are taking an increasingly crucial position for the treatment of cancer; the disease is considered the first cause of death whose incidence grows rapidly after 65 years of age.

This vulnerable illness is killing over eight million people worldwide every year, according to statistics reported by the World Health Organization.

More than 20,000 inhabitants are dying annually in Cuba and some 32,000 new cases are detected, for which experts insist on prevention, taking into account that the 40 percent is due to the habits of smoking, alcoholism, inappropriate diets and lack of exercise, among others.

Early detection and treatment are crucial factors to face this health problem, which constitutes not only suffering for patients and family members, but also huge outlays on the part of the government to ensure these expensive treatments given for free.

Translated by: Silke Paez Carr

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