UPDATE: Cuban researchers battle Lung Cancer with a Vaccine

It is called CIMAvax, and while CIM calls it a vaccine, it is important to note the drug does not prevent disease like a traditional vaccine, at least in its current form. It instead keeps diagnosed tumors in check by inhibiting their growth, acting more as a treatment. This is known as a therapeutic vaccine.

Rather than target the cancer cells directly, the vaccine acts as a form of immunotherapy, harnessing the body's own immune system to fight the cancer instead.

Other countries are participating in clinical trials for CIMAvax, including Japan and some in Europe. The United States is also interested. As the two countries continue to normalize relations after half a century of dispute, FDA clinical trials could start this year and will run in partnership with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

A range of clinical trials have enabled the vaccine to be tested in 5000 patients worldwide, including 1000 in Cuba. In one small trial, patients younger than 60 lived on average 11 months longer than those who did not receive the vaccination.