Lung cancer vaccine may be coming to the US

I'll be interested to see how this pans out. Lung cancer is a terrible scourge and if this stuff actually works, that would be awesome. I could care less if it was developed in Red Cuba, a cure is a cure!

EMNofSeattle said:

Americans can travel to Cuba all they want.

if you want to risk your health, or spend money on a treatment that might not work, you are free to do so by traveling outside the country, however a big pharma cannot simply commercially sell a medical drug without meeting certain standards. it's like if you want to go eat food from street vendors in Guatemala, more power to you, that's not a reason to lower food safety standards here in USA.

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Shouldn't people have the right to put whatever they want in their body?

Henrin said:

Shouldn't people have the right to put whatever they want in their body?

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No, start your own thread if we want to discuss this.

countryboy said:

A grand total of 6,000 people have used the vaccine? Why so few?

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Good question.
Maybe because it is simple, inexpensive, and shown to work.
As opposed to chemo therapy which sometimes does work, but is enormously expensive and far from simple. It's also quite debilitating.

Or, maybe because it was developed by Cuba.

Dittohead not! said:

Good question.
Maybe because it is simple, inexpensive, and shown to work.
As opposed to chemo therapy which sometimes does work, but is enormously expensive and far from simple. It's also quite debilitating.

Or, maybe because it was developed by Cuba.

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That doesn't even make any sense. If it is "simple, inexpensive, and shown to work", there would be far more people using it.

countryboy said:

That doesn't even make any sense. If it is "simple, inexpensive, and shown to work", there would be far more people using it.

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If they were allowed to, sure.
But our government and our medical system is not geared to simple, inexpensive, and shown to work." It's geared to expensive, more expensive, and still more expensive.

A course of chemo therapy costs around $25 - $30 grand a month. A simple shot costs a few bucks. My cynicism tells me that the medical establishment is going to be reluctant to use the shot, and that the FDA is going to take a long time to approve the less costly treatment.

But, that could be wrong. My cynicism steers me wrong as much as 1% of the time.

Dittohead not! said:

If they were allowed to, sure.
But our government and our medical system is not geared to simple, inexpensive, and shown to work." It's geared to expensive, more expensive, and still more expensive.

A course of chemo therapy costs around $25 - $30 grand a month. A simple shot costs a few bucks. My cynicism tells me that the medical establishment is going to be reluctant to use the shot, and that the FDA is going to take a long time to approve the less costly treatment.

But, that could be wrong. My cynicism steers me wrong as much as 1% of the time.

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You don't get it, do you. Just because the United States had an embargo against Cuba (with VERY good reason), doesn't mean the rest of the world does. If this so-called "vaccine" is soooo effective, there would be far more than 6,000 people around the world treated with it. This just doesn't pass the smell test.

Even with the embargo lifted, that doesn't mean the treatment will be available to US citizens any time soon. Probably a good thing, since there must be a reason only 6,000 people have been treated with this drug.

countryboy said:

You don't get it, do you. Just because the United States had an embargo against Cuba (with VERY good reason), doesn't mean the rest of the world does. If this so-called "vaccine" is soooo effective, there would be far more than 6,000 people around the world treated with it. This just doesn't pass the smell test.

Even with the embargo lifted, that doesn't mean the treatment will be available to US citizens any time soon. Probably a good thing, since there must be a reason only 6,000 people have been treated with this drug.

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No doubt there is a reason.
The reason doesn't have to be about its effectiveness or safety.

Dittohead not! said:

No doubt there is a reason.
The reason doesn't have to be about its effectiveness or safety.

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But there is a reason. And most likely that's not a positive sign.

Moot said:

Chemo is almost worse than the illness. I wish the best for your business partner.

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Chemo has improved drastically over the last couple of decades. Still sucks, but it doesn't suck nearly as bad as it did.

Dittohead not! said:

Good question.
Maybe because it is simple, inexpensive, and shown to work.
As opposed to chemo therapy which sometimes does work, but is enormously expensive and far from simple. It's also quite debilitating.

Or, maybe because it was developed by Cuba.

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Also, it was pretty much strictly used in CUba, on people who developed lung cancer. Cuba has a much smaller population , and therefore a smaller number of people who actually develop lung cancer.

RAMOSS said:

Also, it was pretty much strictly used in CUba, on people who developed lung cancer. Cuba has a much smaller population , and therefore a smaller number of people who actually develop lung cancer.

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That too.
Maybe now that we've at least begun to lift the embargo, the rest of the world will have yet another weapon against cancer.

Dittohead not! said:

[h=1]Cuba’s Lung Cancer Vaccine Heading to the US[/h]




One must wonder how many US lives might have been saved had we lifted our absurd "embargo" sooner.

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Probably none because there is no such thing a preventative "vaccine" for cancer nor will there ever be. The nature of cancer precludes the possibility. CimaVax is not a preventative vaccine. It is a cancer treatment that is intended as an alternative to chemotherapy or radiation therapy in the early stage of a specific (and uncommon) variation of lung cancer and it is still in the clinical trial phase even in Cuba.

Napoleon said:

Probably none because there is no such thing a preventative "vaccine" for cancer nor will there ever be. The nature of cancer precludes the possibility. CimaVax is not a preventative vaccine. It is a cancer treatment that is intended as an alternative to chemotherapy or radiation therapy in the early stage of a specific (and uncommon) variation of lung cancer and it is still in the clinical trial phase even in Cuba.

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Read the link in the OP.

Dittohead not! said:

Read the link in the OP.

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Not sure what about my post you disagree with. I did read the link and, based on my knowledge of cancer and of CimaVax, found it to be misleading and somewhat sensationalist which has been typical of coverage of the drug. Its long on hype and short on facts. The article paints a picture that the big bad embargo and FDA kept a proven lifesaving treatment for cancer away from the American public - but that is mostly false. The article does note that we have more robust scientific standards but it what it should have said is that Cuba has less rigorous standards - including allowing experimental medications such as CimaVax to be made available to the general public before clinical trials are complete.

It omits the fact the CimaVax is still in the clinical trial phase in Cuba and that the completed trials thus far have shown only that it can prolong life in some patients under the age of 60 in certain rare early-stage cancers of the lungs and prostate. It is not a cure and it doesn't work for everyone. They still haven't settled on proper dosage, proper administration of the drug, or whether or not it should be a treatment companion to chemotherapy. They still have yet to sort out which specific subgroup of patients the drug is effective for or to conduct a clinical trial that is reflective of the oncological care typical of the condition they're trying to treat. In short, it is potentially a promising treatment but it is not the miracle drug it is made out to be by the media and there are still a lot of unknowns. The United States, Europe, and Japan will asses the facts for ourselves - because we don't unleash the unknown, or the risks and false hope carried with it, on the general public.