MTI
Mar 1, 2010
The new anti-cancer homeopathic preparation developed by a Cuban scientific institute from scorpion venom will soon be available on the international market.
Isabel González, director of the research and development department of Labiofam, a company that produces vaccines and other medicines, said the other day that Vidatox, a medicine produced from the venom of the blue scorpion (Rhopalurus Junceus), was tested on about 10,000 cancer patients, and the results showed that the patients' quality of life significantly improved, and the growth of the tumor in their body stopped.
The toxin of the animal's venom, which is only native to Guantánamo province in southern Cuba, has "pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects, and prevents the formation of cancer cells," explained the director. Currently, there are 13 breeding farms in the country, and each of them has an average of 5,000 scorpions. They can extract 0.02 millimeters of venom from each animal.
"By the end of the year, we will commercialize nearly one million doses of the product," emphasized González. The product was developed following the scientific work of Cuban biologist Misael Bordier, who spent 21 years investigating the therapeutic effects of scorpion venom in the fight against cancer. 70 percent of the 50,000 patients involved in the clinical trials conducted by Bordier found that the tumor did not recur in their bodies.
More than a thousand people from Italy traveled to Cuba in two weeks to undergo the special treatment. Cuba has already produced several natural preparations that have been proven to be effective in defeating cancer. The production of biotechnological products is one of the most important sources of income for the Caribbean island nation.