During the early 1990s, the Cuban government’s Molecular Immunology Center began testing a groundbreaking lung cancer vaccine called CimaVax.

Besides treating the symptoms of the disease, the vaccine also helps prevents recurrence of the cancer. With Cuba and the United States normalizing relations in December, CimaVax could be available in the U.S. in the not so distant future.

Kelvin Lee is the chief of immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

“This vaccine is cheap to make, it is effective and it has no toxicity,” Lee told Fox News Latino. “It will treat people with lung cancer and could potentially prevent cancer in people who don’t already have it.”

Lee was part of a team of business leaders and health professionals that accompanied New York governor Andrew Cuomo on a trade mission to Cuba earlier this month.

While there, representatives from Roswell Park signed an agreement to bring a small quantity of CimaVax back to the United States. A handful of Cuban scientists will also travel to Buffalo to help with the testing and research.

There are still a number of hurdles to clear before CimaVax hits the U.S. markets, but the doctors at Roswell Park are optimistic that they will get FDA approval to start testing within the next eight months. They also have plans to partner with a private firm to manufacture the vaccine for patients in the U.S.

According to Fox News Latino,

“The drug is already the market in Cuba, where it has treated around 1,000 people for lung cancer, and has been used on a total of 5,000 patients around the globe.”

Lung cancer kills upwards of 160,000 Americans every year, more than the other three most deadly cancers (breast, colon and prostate) combined.

Since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Cuba has been noted for its “medical diplomacy,” sending some of its best doctors all around the world to foster goodwill and forge alliances. The island nation sent more doctors to fight the Ebola outbreak in west Africa than any other country in the world.

Read more from Fox News Latino and the Global Post.