HEBERSaVax: The story of a Cuban product, unique in the world, with great potential in the fight against cancer 

"Congratulations, Doctor, to you and your team," said the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, this Tuesday afternoon to Yanelys Morera Díaz, the scientific leader of HEBERSaVax, a novel vaccine candidate designed for the treatment of various malignant tumors.
From the Palace of the Revolution, during the regular meeting of Experts and Scientists on Health issues, led by the Head of State, it was very encouraging to hear presentations about a unique product of its kind in the world, made in Cuba, which is showing signs of hope in cancer treatment.
Once the meeting concluded, during which—among other questions—the President inquired about the potential pool of patients who could benefit, Yanelys Morera, a full member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, spoke with the press team of the Presidency of the Republic about some key ideas she had shared with the group of Experts and Scientists.
Regarding HEBERSaVax, she spoke in terms of a "therapeutic vaccine," or also "active immunotherapy." The project leader explained that when a tumor grows, it is an actively growing mass that needs nutrients and oxygen. The product in question targets the ways in which the tumor obtains nutrients, in addition to triggering cellular responses that halt tumor growth and thus benefit the patient.
"We are looking at a candidate with multiple functions," stated Yanelys Morera, who explained that the product "produces specific antibodies" that cut off blood flow to the tumor, while simultaneously restoring the individual's ability to attack the cancer with an immune response.
The research, the expert declared, "has gone through all the stages," from the initial studies in laboratory animals, "to the most recent Phase II clinical trials, where we have tried to target specific locations."
The project leader emphasized that "this type of therapy is very safe." The vaccine's adverse effects, she said, are few and tolerable: "Therefore, they are very manageable and allow this candidate to be combined even with conventional therapies without increasing toxicity." It is a product, the full member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences emphasized, that can have "multiple applications."
While acknowledging that it is still in the research phase, the scientist noted, it is worth mentioning that among the patients who have received the candidate within the framework of the clinical trial, many have shown significant and positive effects on their quality of life.
The expert spoke to reporters about patients who "have had complete responses," even in cases that were in advanced stages. She noted that Cuba has "a very strong regulatory agency; and therefore, we have to continue demonstrating this body of evidence to move on to new stages."
The project leader looked to the future, envisioning treatments starting in Primary Health Care, and expressed with passion and modesty: "We are confident that this candidate will continue through all the corresponding stages and that it can become part of the arsenal that cancer therapy needs to achieve better results."
OTHER VOICES FROM THE TEAM
"HEBERSaVax is a product that many clinicians would feel very confident in," clinical researcher Julio César Hernández Perera, a specialist in Internal Medicine and a full member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, told reporters.
He, who is part of this promising research team, spoke of it as "a product of Cuban biotechnology, the result of much research," which has "the distinction of being unique in the world."
The researcher and Full Professor also emphasized that it is "a very safe product," because "in the clinical studies that have been conducted, patients have made it clear that HEBERSaVax is very well tolerated."
Julio César Hernández Perera does not rule out the possibility that the product could be applied in the future "to many solid tumors, since it has a high expression of the protein that promotes tumor growth and spread." Along the same lines, he highlighted advantages such as "low toxicity and the possibility of using the product in patients with multiple comorbidities."
"We must continue researching, we must continue expanding our horizons, gaining more knowledge," the doctor said, before emphasizing: "But we can say that we are very hopeful about it and that it opens up vast new frontiers, it gives us that horizon that seems unattainable but that speaks to a path by which we can reach our dreams."
The very young clinical researcher and specialist in Internal Medicine, Adriana Felinciano Pozo, offered journalists a brief testimony about what it has been like to be part of a project that champions life: "This vaccine candidate offers us many opportunities," she stated.
She also brought up the word "safety," referring to "solid data," and associated HEBERSaVax with qualities such as robustness and potential, highlighting its ability to be combined with other medications.
"This product," the expert noted, "has allowed patients to have a better quality of life, a response without adverse effects, and it is very easy to handle or administer because it is for subcutaneous use."
Adriana recalled that "one of the most frequent causes worldwide, not only of death but also of morbidity and impaired quality of life, is cancer." She said this because HEBERSaVax is a powerful tool in the face of this health challenge, "with great potential in solid tumor diseases, in different niches where we have tested it, such as colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, and kidney cancer, in advanced patients, and where there have been good responses."
That is Cuba: pushed to extreme limits, to the point of suffocation, by the work and misfortune of imperial perversity, it does not renounce, despite everything, its defense of the most fundamental of all human rights: the right to life.