Go Lean Commentary
While the below news article is about great cancer and diabetes drugs developed in the Caribbean, this commentary has an underlying theme about “American Exceptionalism”.
American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nation states.[a] In this view, US exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called “the first new nation” and developing a uniquely American ideology, “Americanism”, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, populism and laissez-faire. This ideology itself is often referred to as “American exceptionalism.”[b]
Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and other American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense. To them, the US is like the Biblical “City upon a Hill”[c][d]
This subject matter aligns with the publication Go Lean … Caribbean, which serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean roadmap maintains that other peoples (nations) have dreams as well; the American Dream is not the only aspiration to hope for. This foregoing article presses the point about innovation in cancer and diabetes drugs – that emerged from Cuba.
Posted: March 29, 2014
HAVANA, Cuba – Nimotuzumab, a Cuban monoclonal antibody humanized to treat cancer, is registered in 28 countries, mainly in South America, Africa and Asia, in addition to Cuba.
Specialists at the Center of Molecular Immunology, an institution of the BioCubaFarma Business Group, said that the product has shown its effectiveness in various cases of malignant tumours.
Indicated for tumours in the head and neck in advanced stages, brain tumours and of the esophagus, Nimotuzumab is also used in other oncological ailments of the colon, rectum and liver, and in lung cancer among other locations.
The monoclonal antibody and its results will be the focus, on March 25-27, of the eighth global scientific meeting on Nimotuzumab – Nimomeeting 2014.
With Havana’s Convention Center as its venue, the forum will bring together over 200 experts from some 20 nations, as well as about 20 international biopharmaceutical companies interested in sharing experiences about the medication, the therapeutics of which are used in the medical specialties of oncology, oncopediatrics, radiotherapy, pediatrics and neurosurgery, among others.
Meanwhile, Cuba is trying to take its diabetic foot ulcer drug known as Heberprot-P into the European market.
Heberprot-P is a product based on human growth factor currently being administered in some 20 countries, mostly in Latin America.
According to the marketing director of the Havana-based Genetic Engineer and Biotechnology Center, Ernesto Lopez, the pre-clinical stage of the product, known in Europe as Epipropt, was carried out with good toxicological and safety results.
In Spain, with an estimate 40,000 patients needing the Cuban drug, tests were carried out with no negative toxic results. The product has been developed since 2012 for research studies in other European nations.
According to studies, amputation of lower limbs was reduced fourfold, with the surgical procedure in Europe currently costing over 50,000 Euros, and treatment of the condition some 20,000 Euros.
It is the amputation of lower limbs as a direct consequence of diabetic foot ulcer that the Cuban medication avoids with a period of treatment of only six to seven months.
Along with the therapeutic action on serious ulcers, the treatment has demonstrated a preventive nature in countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
Source: Caribbean News Now Online Newspaper – Retrieved 04-13-2014 http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Cuban-cancer-medication-registered-in-28-countries-20429.html
While the Go Lean book strategizes a roadmap for economic empowerment, it clearly relates that healthcare, disease management, cancer treatments and medicines are germane to the Caribbean quest for health, wealth and happiness. At the outset of the Go Lean book, in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 10 & 11 respectively), these points are pronounced:
Preamble: While our rights to exercise good governance and promote a more perfect society are the natural assumptions among the powers of the earth, no one other than ourselves can be held accountable for our failure to succeed if we do not try to promote the opportunities that a democratic society fosters.
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.
Cuba is not on friendly terms with the United States. A trade embargo was implemented in 1962 as a temporary measure to dissuade the island’s socialist leanings. Now, after 52 years, the embargo continues. Generations of Cubans and generations of Americans have come and gone without witnessing a normalized relationship between Cuba and its largest neighbor, the US. Millions too have died of the scourge of cancer, estimated by one source as afflicting 1-out-of-3 Americans [e]
(Personal note: the primary author of the book Go Lean … Caribbean was inspired to write this roadmap, after his sister died after a 32-year battle with cancer – See Dedication Page 2).
The scourge of cancer and the realities of diabetes were not the motivation for composing the book Go Lean … Caribbean. But rather, the bigger goal of elevating Caribbean society. The Caribbean Union Trade Federation has the prime directive of optimizing the economic, security and governing engines of the region. The foregoing article depicts the benefits that can emerge as a result of innovation in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM). Cuba will be able to trade these advance medicines globally to the markets needing their therapeutic benefits. This is a win-win!
Under the Go Lean roadmap, more such developments will emerge … from all corners of the Caribbean. There are also obvious tangential benefits to the people of the Caribbean regarding public health administration and wellness.
The following list details the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to optimize the region’s health deliveries:
| Community Ethos – Cooperatives | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations | Page 25 |
| 10 Ways to Impact Research and Development | Page 30 |
| 10 Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Separation of Powers – Patent, Standards, & Copyrights Office | Page 78 |
| Separation of Powers – Health Department | Page 86 |
| Separation of Powers – Drug Administration | Page 87 |
| 10 Ways to Implement Self-Government Entities | Page 105 |
| 10 Trade Mission Objectives | Page 116 |
| 10 Ways to Benefit from Globalization | Page 119 |
| 10 Ways to Improve Healthcare | Page 156 |
| 10 Ways to Impact Cancer | Page 157 |
| 10 Ways to Impact Entitlements | Page 158 |
| 10 Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract | Page 170 |
| 10 Ways Foster Cooperatives | Page 176 |
| 10 Ways to Improve Organ Transplants | Page 214 |
| 10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care | Page 225 |
| 10 Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities | Page 228 |
| 10 Ways to Re-boot Cuba | Page 236 |
The foregoing article establishes that many patients around the world will benefit from medical innovations fostered in the Caribbean, in Cuba. The Go Lean roadmap posits that there are a lot of benefits the Caribbean can/will make to facilitate a better life for populations throughout the world. Executing these plans, following the roadmap, will be better for the Caribbean population too.
The United States of America should take heed.
Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
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Appendix – References
a. Winfried Fluck; Donald E. Pease; John Carlos Rowe (2011). Re-Framing the Transnational Turn in American Studies. UPNE. p. 207. Retrived 4/16/2014 from: http://books.google.com/books?id=ccz81DWudCAC&pg=PA207
b. American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. Seymour Martin Lipset. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1996. Page 18. ISBN 0-393-03725-8.
c. Harold Koh, “America’s Jekyll-and-Hyde Exceptionalism”, in Michael Ignatieff, ed., American Exceptionalism and Human Rights, p. 112
d. A “City upon a Hill” is a phrase from the Bible parable of Salt and Light in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:14, he tells his listeners, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” It has become popular with American politicians.
e. Website http://www.preventcancer.com/losing/ – Retrieved Nov. 2013 / Wikipedia.org general subject treatment for the War on Cancer – Retrieved Nov. 2013.