The announcement was made by the Cuban Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Business Group (BioCubaFarma) on its Twitter account.
It is the first official meeting between Cuban experts and their peers from those international and regional organizations related to this issue.
The Cuban scientists explained the results of clinical trials on the Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala vaccines; as well as the Soberana 01 and Mambisa vaccine candidates.
Abdala, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), demonstrated 92.28-percent efficacy in its clinical trials in terms of its ability to prevent symptomatic disease.
For its part, the heterologous scheme of two doses of Soberana 02 and a booster dose of its counterpart, Soberana Plus, both from the Finlay Vaccines Institute (IFV), showed 91.2-percent efficacy during clinical trials to prevent symptomatic disease.
Cuba also developed Soberana 01 by the IFV and Mambisa by the CIGB, which are in different phases of clinical trials and have shown encouraging results so far. The latter is one of seven in the world intended for nasal administration.
Prior to this meeting, there were some meetings with the representation of the WHO/PAHO, both in Havana and Geneva, but after Thursday the experts of these health organizations will begin to evaluate the documentation delivered by the Cuban experts.
The PAHO/WHO representative here, Jose Moya, recently explained that a task force will be established to review the results of the clinical trials, production processes, and quality of the three Cuban vaccines.
Experts from the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED), a national regulatory authority, also participated in the meeting to explain the process of certifying the compliance with good clinical and manufacturing practices.
PAHO has recognized on several occasions Cuba’s efforts in the development of its own anti-Covid-19 products and their importance for the region.
Specialists on the subject assure that each country has the authority to use the vaccine that it considers pertinent, even when it is not recognized by the WHO.
Cuba’s proposals are already used in some nations as part of bilateral agreements and collaboration in the development of clinical studies, while immunization with them advances throughout the national territory.
Recognition by the WHO will facilitate the entry of these products in the international market once the needs in the national territory are met.
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