Cuba exports cancer medicine derived from scorpion venom

Cuba has begun to export Vidatox, a medical product for cancer therapy derived from a toxin found in scorpions, as announced by Jose Antonio Fraga, the director of the Havana-based Pharmaceutical and Biological Laboratory (Labiofam), which produces the medicine. Fraga explained that the substance is extracted from the Rhopalurus junceus, also known as red scorpion, which is an indigenous species of Cuba. Vidatox … is the result of work by Cuban biologist, Misael Bordier with the venom of the blue scorpion.

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The company’s director of research and development, Isbel González, explained that Vidatox is a homeopathic preparation made from five protein peptides of low molecular weight extracted from the venom of the scorpion, and which has demonstrated an “analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effect in more than 15 different cancer cell lines.”
According to González, Vidatox has been tested on more than 10,000 cancer patients, some 3,500 of them foreigners, and has shown “positive results”, ranging from “improved quality of life” to “slowed tumor growth”.
The medication is the result of 15 years of research, and Labiofam says that its homeopathic version has now been registered and is now being commercially produced . González added that the company would continue research to produce synthetic or biotechnological versions of the compound.

The medication was produced from over 5,000 scorpions of the Rhopalurus junceus variety, native to eastern Cuba. According to the company, it has no contraindications and is compatible with any other oncological treatment.