Havana, Cuba.- Treatment with Heberprot-P has decreased the risk of patients’ amputation with diabetic foot ulcers by 71 percent among Cuban population, assured Manuel Raices, from the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Applied for the first time in the country in 2007, the comprehensive care program with Heberprot-P has reached over 88,000 patients in these 12 years and has prevented some 17,000 amputations; the specialist told Prensa Latina on the 1st International Diabetes Congress recently concluded with some 400 specialists from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the United States.

The positive results have been possible thanks to both broadening therapy and making it available to about 405 polyclinics or primary care units throughout the country and to about 55 secondary care hospitals, Raices highlighted.

He pointed out that about 12,000 patients were treated in 2018 and amputations were limited to some 1,700 when in fact there should have been 4,000. This medical achievement helps to reduce cost for health system and for the population.

Raices explained that Heberprot-P is applied to diabetic patients who have been with the injury for over seven years and who due to poor metabolic control have neuropathy or other complications such as retinopathy, or nephropathy.

The Cuban expert underscored that despite the results achieved, much more can be done to reduce the indicators of amputation to lower values with early detection and metabolic control at the primary care level. However, he recognized the undeniable role of Cuba as a world leader in the comprehensive management of diabetes.