Cubans to share cancer expertise

NST: The Cubans are coming, and cigars are not part of the programme.
The main topic of discussion? All things to do with the big C.
Three top Cuban scientists will be here on Saturday to showcase their pioneering biotechnology products and share their experience with their Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts.
They will zoom in on the treatment of cancer and the advancements in immuno- therapy (experimental cancer vaccines) emerging from Cuba which have proved successful against the disease.
A local biotech company which has worked with Cuban scientists for years, Bioven Sdn Bhd, is bringing Dr Augstin Lage, Dr Rolando Perez and Dr Gerardo Guillen down for a Cancer Immuno- therapy workshop at the NCI Cancer Hospital.
Bioven chairman Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said: "Scientists and cancer specialists in Malaysia will get a chance to tap into Cuban cancer research at this first-of-its-kind workshop as the Cuban scientists are from the leading biotech and biomedical institutions there."
The Cuban trio will also talk about another product which, in clinical trials, showed the potential to reduce the need for foot-amputations in diabetic patients by 70 per cent.
Faced with a United States embargo for decades, Cuba had to rely on its own scientists to find new ways to treat and care for a poor population, resulting in trail-blazing advancements in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
It invested heavily in and nurtured its biotech industry for more than 20 years. Now Cuba is the largest exporter of medicines in Latin America, has produced an impressive list of genetically-engineered products, and is the only country in the world to have success in controlling dengue and hepatitis-B.
Dr Eulogio Pimentel, another Cuban scientist who will also be at the forum, said the three scientists were the cream of the crop when it came to biotechnology, and had published hundreds of articles in leading science and medical journals.
"Dr Lage is considered number one. And he has a way of speaking about biotechnology like no other.
"It is a complicated subject but when he talks people get it easily," he said of the scientist who has studied under the guidance of AIDS expert Dr Luc Montagnier, who discovered the HIV virus.