The effects of Cuban therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer CIMAvax-EGF in convalescents from COVID-19 will be studied in a clinical trial developed by the Molecular Immunology Center (CIM) of Cuba.
A second study carried out by this scientific institution will evaluate the role of ior®EPOCIM (recombinant human erythropoietin) in people who suffered from the infectious disease and were left with various sequelae as a result of the disease.
The first trial, called CORVAXCIM, seeks to measure the safety and effect of CIMAvax-EGF in convalescents with respiratory disorders after SARS-CoV-2 infection, as explained by Dr. Mayra Ramos Suzarte, head of the clinical trials department of the CIM.
The expert specified that the research is a multicenter, controlled, open, randomized phase II trial divided into two groups: one that receives the vaccine and the best established standard therapy for respiratory sequelae and the other that will only receive said treatment, as you refer the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
The CIM researchers aim to stop the progression or prevent pulmonary fibrosis caused by COVID-19 with the administration of eight doses of the drug for six months. Convalescent participants must be over 18 years of age, have been ill for at least two months before the start of the trial and present respiratory symptoms and difficulty walking long distances, while they cannot be pregnant or lactating women, have dialysis or hemodialysis treatment, or suffer from other serious chronic diseases.
[1/2] CIMAvax-EGF® is the therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of lung cancer developed by scientists from the @cim_cuba.
New clinical trial will provide evidence on the possible use of the product in patients convalescing from infection by #SARSCoV2with respiratory disorders.#Thread pic.twitter.com/lWXBRAcUZr
— Scientific Observatory (@ObservaCiencia) July 6, 2022
The test provides for the inclusion of 135 people, a figure that could grow if the study is opened in all provinces. At the moment, the inclusion is open in hospital institutions in Havana, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín, Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba, which is joined by the Abel Santamaría hospital in Pinar del Río, in the case of the second clinical trial. .
The latter, called COREPOCIM, seeks to evaluate the effectiveness and efficacy of ior®EPOCIM in patients convalescing from coronavirus infection with cardiovascular, renal and/or respiratory disorders, with the purpose of curbing post-COVID-19 damage or reducing sequelae. point the ACN.
It is, as in the first case, a phase II, multicenter, controlled, open and randomized trial, with a group that will receive five administrations of the drug and a second group that will receive conventional therapy for this type of convalescent.
The news release quotes Master of Science Yanelda García Vega, head of the CIM Clinical Trials Group with monoclonal antibodies, who commented that this study “meets inclusion and exclusion criteria similar to those of CORVAXCIM, but it is added that the subjects must present sequelae such as chest pain, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, cough, difficulty climbing a ladder or hill and walking long distances, as well as changes in urine.
Added to these symptoms are also “dry and itchy skin, swelling of the hands or feet, bags around the eyes (especially in the morning), shortness of breath and concentration, pain in the lower back, high blood pressure, poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, trouble sleeping and cramps at night, “concluded the expert.
