Cuban scientists are working on 15 biotechnological projects to deal with COVID-19 that encompass diagnosis and treatment, officials from the BioCubaFarma entity announced.

Orlando Pérez Rodríguez, director of Science and Innovation at BioCubaFarma, said that all clinical research and interventions have been duly authorized by Cuban regulatory entities and will be timely evaluated and reported to publicize Cuba's experience in this field.

He explained that 6 of the 15 projects are focused on treatment, the same number is prophylactic, two are diagnosticians and a medical team.

He added that the products focus on increasing people's innate immunity, reducing the viral load at the beginning of the disease and reducing the hyperinflammatory reaction in patients who develop it, especially in vulnerable groups (older adults or those with pathologies of antecedent).

As a sample of the responsiveness of Cuban Biotechnology, 9 of these projects are already in the phase of intervention trials or clinical studies and six are still in the research and development phase in laboratories, in addition to others in the design or early research.

He pointed out that in the treatment, in the initial stage Interferon Alpha 2B is used, for the management of the inflammatory reaction produced by COVID-19, the monoclonal antibody of the Immunoassay Center and a peptide from the Center for Genetic and Biotechnological Engineering are studied (CIGB).

Most products focus on the use of prophylactics, including nasal administration of interferon Alfa (to stimulate immunity), biomodulin-T (for those over 60 years of age), transfer factor (stimulates immunity in vulnerable groups), CIGB 2020 (immuno enhancer) and a vaccine candidate from the Finlay Institute (contains components of the Cuban meningitis vaccine).