Even in the context of extreme economic crisis due to the blockade, Cuba continues to advance its life-saving medicines and technologies. Our brigade met with Manuel Raices from the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, who explained how Cuba’s approach to medicine and biotechnology has prevented over 20,000 diabetic-related amputations and treated over 120,000 Cubans using groundbreaking Cuban biological technology Heberprot-P.
In Britain diabetes is a rapidly escalating crisis. People living in poverty are two and a half times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes type two, and then twice as likely to face serious complications, than those not living in poverty (Diabetes UK). One of the complications associated with the condition is the development of foot ulcers. Between 2017 and 2020 7,957 diabetic lower limb (toe, foot or leg) amputations took place in England. This is a substantial operation with a mortality rate of up to 17% within 30 days of surgery and of up to 80% five years post-surgery.
The technology behind Cuba’s Herberprot-P was developed in the 1990s and formally registered for the international market in 2006. It is a genetically engineered epidermal growth factor, a molecule that encourages cell growth and multiplication so when it is injected in a wound, or ulcer, it promotes wound healing. The use of Heberprot-P has reduced the risk of amputation by over 70% in Cuba. It is registered in 24 countries worldwide, including Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Venezuela and Vietnam. Due to the blockade, it is banned from the US. It is not available in Britain.
And it is not just Heberprot-P and diabetic foot ulcers. Raices explained why the Cuban approach in fighting cancer is not more widely picked up in the advanced capitalist countries: ‘Our strategy in fighting cancer is training your body to attack the tumour itself and maintain an equilibrium. Why do companies not like this strategy? Because if I train your body to attack the tumour itself, I don’t need to create a factory to supply the pills that you have to take every day or every month to keep you alive and then I have no market.’
This exemplifies why the example of socialist Cuba is such a threat to imperialism. Cuba promotes a system of planning and cooperation, in the interests of humanity and the planet, that stands in direct opposition to the unending accumulation of capital demanded by capitalism. As Raice told us: ‘In Cuba, we have many problems stemming from the blockade, but a sick person is not a client.’