Spanish Monarchs Visit Important Scientific Center in Havana

The King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, learned today about the advances of the Cuban biotechnology industry in tackling cancer by visiting the facilities of the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM).

Their Majesties, on an official visit to Cuba, were received by Eduardo Martinez Diaz, president of the BioCubaFarma business group, and by the director of the entity, Eduardo Ojito Magaz, who updated them on the main achievements of the institution.

The monarchs exchanged with patients treated with CIMAvax-EGF, a lung cancer therapeutic vaccine in advanced stages, and then visited the research building, where they toured the laboratories and talked to young scientists and workers.

Felipe VI and Letizia appreciated the products of the center and signed the visitor’s book.

With more than 30 awards from the Cuban Academy of Sciences, the CIM was opened on December 5, 1994 by the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, who said about it: “It is a pride in the midst of the Special Period to
open this center, which is not a luxury, it is a promise of health and well-being for our people, it is a promise of income for our economy.

The institution has several products currently under production and registered, among them CIMAher, for the treatment of head, neck, esophagus and pancreatic tumors; as well as iorEPOCIM, 2000, 4000 and 10000, for the treatment of chronic renal anemia, AIDS, and oncological patients under chemotherapy regimen.