As U.S. Sanctions Isolate Cuba, Its Biotech Sector Turns to Russia

Cuba and Russia are expanding cooperation in cancer research, including the joint development of therapeutic vaccines.

Cuba’s biotech industry has long punched above its weight, and has pioneered vaccine treatments for lung cancer. Recent clinical trials showed that Vaxira, now approved in Cuba and Argentina, significantly improved survival among patients with advanced lung cancer, with one-year survival rates nearly doubling compared to the control group.

Previously, Cuba developed Cimavax, which inspired the creation of the first joint U.S.-Cuban biotech venture, established between the Buffalo-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Cuba's Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM) to make innovative cancer therapies available to U.S. patients.

But as the U.S. government has ramped up its economic war, scientific collaboration between Cuba and the U.S. has deteriorated. As a result, Cuba has been forced to seek investment from Washington’s adversaries in biotech and other industries.

“U.S. sanctions against Cuba have proven counterproductive,” Cuba expert and American University Professor of Government William LeoGrande wrote in Responsible Statecraft two years ago. “By exacerbating the economic hardships Cubans face, Washington’s policies have accelerated migration and left Cuba no alternative but to seek help from [our] strategic competitors.”