14ymedio, Madrid, 3 June 2022 — Cuba and China presented Pan-Corona this Thursday, the first patent for an anti-covid vaccine jointly developed between both countries. The project is located in a joint biotechnological R&D center in Yongzhou and is led by experts from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) and the Cuban Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries Business Group (BioCubaFarma).
“Cuba and China present a patent for a Pan-Corona vaccine, developed for current and future variants of coronavirus,” the Cuban scientific institution said on Twitter.
Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, added that the goal is to achieve effective vaccines against coronaviruses through joint research, so that they transcend the one that causes covid-19.
“Not only would they have value in the current pandemic, but they could also be effective against the appearance of new pathogens belonging to this family of viruses,” says Martínez Díaz.
Gerardo Guillén, director of biomedical research at the CIGB, said that the Pan-Corona project arose at the request of the Chinese side and has the approval of the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.
Pan-Corona is a recombinant-type antigen, which is the vaccine development platform in which the CIGB has the most experience, with successful antecedents such as that of hepatitis B, in addition to two of the Cuban vaccines against covid-19, one of them Abdala.
This serum is still pending approval from the World Health Organization (WHO), after the necessary documentation was delivered in April to give the green light to the vaccine, whose administration on the island began more than a year ago, as it was endorsed by the Regulatory Authority for Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices of the Republic of Cuba.
Soberana 02, for its part, has not yet delivered the dossier, although it has announced its intention to do so on an unspecified date. As long as they remain without authorization for emergency use, they cannot be included in the international Covax mechanism, which makes it difficult for them to be sold, sales which, until now, have been limited to a few friendly countries whose pharmaceutical authorities have supported them.
Cubans inoculated with Abdala or Soberana are still unable to fly to the US as they lack a vaccine accepted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
