According to BioCubaFarma, Cuba’s Soberana 2 vaccine candidate showed 62% efficacy in two of its three doses.

The state-owned biopharmaceutical company BioCubaFarma quoted preliminary data from late-stage trials that Cuba’s Soberana 2 vaccine candidate showed 62% efficacy using only two of its three doses.

Cuba’s biotechnology sector has been exporting vaccines for decades, and five vaccine candidates are in clinical trials, two of which-Soberana 2 and Abdala-are in late-stage trials.

Vicente Vérez, director of the state-run Finlay Institute for Vaccine Research, which developed Soberana 2, said: “In a few weeks, we should have three doses of efficacy results, and we expect these results to be better.”

As the news broke, the largest island in the Caribbean was facing its worst epidemic since the pandemic began, as more infectious variants appeared, creating a new record of daily coronavirus cases.

This Communist-ruled country chose not to import foreign vaccines, but to rely on its own vaccines. Experts say this is a risky bet, but if it pays off, Cuba can enhance its scientific reputation, generate much-needed hard currency through exports, and strengthen global vaccination efforts.

“We know that our government has failed to provide all the funds needed for this project, but nonetheless, this is the result of a global position,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel (Miguel Diaz-Canel) on Saturday Said when the results were announced on state-run television.

From Argentina and Jamaica to Mexico and Venezuela, several countries have expressed interest in buying Cuban vaccines. As part of late-stage clinical trials, Iran began production of Soberana 2 earlier this year.

As part of the “intervention study”, the Cuban authorities have begun to use experimental vaccines on a large scale, hoping to slow the spread of the virus.

According to official data, daily cases in the capital have been reduced by half since the start of the vaccination campaign, although this may also be due to stricter lockdown measures.