Surfacen, a natural surfactant developed in Cuba, is a therapeutic option available in the country''s all intensive therapies to treat children and adults with many respiratory pathologies.
Its use began some 20 years ago in newborn children with respiratory distress syndrome, also known as Hyaline Membrane Disease, an affliction that frequently appears in premature babies and is often a major cause of mortality, Doctor Valentin Rodriguez Moya, a pediatric intensive care physician, told Prensa Latina.
"The use of Surfacen decreases artificial ventilation requirements and promotes the rapid improvement of the symptoms to raise oxygen levels in blood," the physician said.
The medicine was registered in 1995. In 2010, a clinical trial was carried out for adults with respiratory failure and a phase-four test was completed in 2014 for pediatric patients, so it is currently used satisfactorily in all age groups, he stressed.
The drug has the main properties of lung surfactants available in the world (almost exclusive from highly developed countries), with similar results in reducing infant mortality by the mentioned disease, he said.
The product, currently used in Angola and waiting other countries such as Chile and Peru, will be debated in the Eight International Symposium on Mechanical Ventilation, opened yesterday in Havana.
The event, in which delegates from many nations are participating, will conclude Friday, June 12 at the Havana's Conference Center.