Engineer Teobaldo Cruz Méndez, lead investment specialist at the Labiofam State Enterprise Management Group (OSDE), is in charge of a project following the footsteps of those first facilities, looking to increase the country’s production capacity for bioproducts approximately eight times over.

The investment plan includes three industrial complexes, located in Havana, Villa Clara and Granma, which are projected to meet practically the entire domestic demand for biofertilizers, biostimulants and biopesticides, in order to guarantee greater phytosanitary protection for crops.

A history of delays

The history of the bioproducts plant in Havana, still under construction, is much longer than it should be, repeatedly plagued by financial limitations and other problems that have unfortunately become commonplace in too many investment projects: delays, irregularities in planning and contracting…

Without passing judgment, briefly summarizing the course of the work is illustrative. At this point, 88% of the industrial erection has been completed and 99% of the civil works.

Teobaldo Cruz explained to Granma that plans for the Havana plant emerged in the first decade of the 2000s, that is, during that period the conceptual design and basic engineering were outlined, with a view toward manufacturing the bacterial control products Bactivec and Griselesf.

Some years later, however, it was determined that the facility could assume the manufacture of bioproducts, in addition to biological control products and Biorat to eliminate rodents and other pests.

This projection, very positive economically speaking, although delayed, began to take shape in 2012, a stage in which financial limitations began to have a stronger impact on the effort.

According to Cruz, the plant passed from one financier to another, until 2015 when the investment was resumed. From that time to date, the project has experienced a series of highs, lows and very lows in financial matters.

Nevertheless, beyond these tensions, the Havana facility still awaits completion of several subsystems and three fundamental systems, including electrical power distribution infrastructure, the waste treatment plant and the fire prevention system.

In the case of Villa Clara, fermentation elements are 65% complete, while work at the Granma plant is behind schedule.

Cruz reported that contracts have been signed with several Cuban companies to conclude work on the unfinished systems, which implies considerable savings.

“The total cost of the three plants comes to 50 million dollars and this collaboration with national industry has allowed savings of between 6 and 7 million dollars,” he emphasized.

Two examples suffice to illustrate the savings. The rice scale, originally projected to cost $80,000 USD, can be made in Cuba for $26,000, additionally allowing for savings of 60% in expenses for materials initially conceived for civil construction.

The rice washing system, on the other hand, projected to cost 886,000 USD, can be manufactured by Cuban companies for approximately half that amount.

If all these alternatives can be concretized, the Labiofam investment specialist, stated, the Havana plant will be ready, with a minimum of conditions, by the last quarter of 2021, and Villa Clara, by the third quarter of 2022.

Increasing agricultural yields with new technology

More than a plant, the Havana facility is an industrial complex, capable of producing, in addition to Bactivec and Griselesf, 12 assortments of biofertilizers and biopesticides, and is studying the introduction of others compatible with submerged fermentation technology.

Cruz is confident that the Havana plant will reach its nominal capacity of 5,800,000 liters of fermented broth, equivalent to 3,800,000 liters of finished products. But production will increase in accordance with, among other aspects, agricultural demand and anti-vectorial campaigns.

He added that, in the specific case of bioproducts, the program, which not only includes the Havana industrial complex, but also those in Villa Clara and Granma, could provide supplies for one to 1.5 million hectares.

In addition, the four existing facilities are currently undergoing a capital renovation process based on two fundamental premises: nominal capacity and industrial reliability, in order to achieve higher levels of both production and efficiency.

Today, Cruz estimates, the production of Labiofam’s four plants meets around 26% of the country’s total demand for bioproducts.

With the start-up of the new facilities, in addition to increasing production of biofertilizers and biopesticides, the enterprise plans to produce some 1,080 tons of Biorat per year, which will enable it to meet domestic demand and additionally export to other countries in the region.

Likewise, the production of the crop biostimulant Biobras 16, which can increase rice yields up to 25%, is also projected. Between the Havana and Villa Clara industrial complexes, the figures should reach 220,000 liters per year, the engineer reported.

The availability of these facilities, Teobaldo Cruz Méndez insisted, will, first of all, free the country from the need to import a considerable volume of products, and allow the Cuban industry to gradually develop a presence on the international market. In addition, the preparation of specialized technological packages for specific crops and planting seasons will be possible and, above all, the expansion will pave the way for our agriculture to develop at a higher ecological level.

IN FIGURES

The country produces today:

1,180 tons of biofertilizers.

1,200 tons of biopesticides.

LABIOFAM

2020 Plan: 568 tons of bioproducts, close to the volume obtained in 2019.

2021 Plan: 653 tons of bioproducts.

(Source: Labiofam)

“It will not be an exhausted and outdated world order that can save humanity and create the indispensable natural conditions for a dignified and decent life on the planet. (…) This is not an ideological question; it is already a question of life or death for the human species.”

Solidarity and Justice are still words in disuse even when the catastrophe concerns us all, like a great universal Titanic. A tiny and sticky virus has moved fears, shaken societies and health systems, provoked countless reflections on today and the future, but it has not succeeded in making equity and love for others prosper.

This week will mark the 100 millionth person infected with COVID-19 in the world and already more than 2 million people have died.

“Every day the gap between the haves and have-nots grows. The pandemic has reminded us that health and economics are linked and that we are all in the same boat. The pandemic will not end until it ends everywhere,” said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday.

The numbers bear incontrovertible witness to the expert’s assessment.

The privileged cure

Despite numerous calls from the UN and various world leaders to seek a global response to the pandemic and to facilitate and share access to a cure for the disease, narrow views and deaf ears predominate.

“Science is succeeding, but solidarity is failing,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted on January 15. Several vaccines are already available worldwide to tackle the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but access to them is as deeply unequal as the world we inhabit.

Some 66.33 million doses have been administered to date, 93% of which were delivered in just 15 countries: the US, China, UK, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Germany, India, Italy, Turkey, Spain, France and Russia, according to the data analysis platform Our World in Data, based on figures from Oxford University.

In all of sub-Saharan Africa, only 25 doses of vaccine could be administered in Guinea. Populous countries like Nigeria, with 200 million inhabitants, are waiting for the first dose.

The same scramble that took place at the beginning of the pandemic with lung ventilators, masks and protective suits is now being staged with vaccines: hoarding, overpricing and speculation. “An immoral race to the bottom,” as the WHO’s top executive described it.

The COVAX fund, created as a sort of global effort to make vaccines accessible to the poorest nations or those with limited resources, announced that in February it will begin to deliver the first doses (they first said that in January), but it recognizes that it has been limited by the lucrative agreements of various individual nations with the pharmaceutical companies that produce the anti-COVID vaccines.

Another handicap has been the high cost of the vaccines that have the most international approval so far. As Norwegian expert John-Arne Rottingen told The Guardian, “The difficulty is that we really only have widespread international approval for marketing two vaccines: the two mRNA vaccines. The challenge is that one, the Moderna vaccine is very expensive, and the other, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which was first available and is now being applied in Europe, is moderately expensive compared to others, and requires a super cold chain. The price and cold chain makes it not the ideal vaccines for a global vaccine.”

While nations like India and South Africa are calling on the WHO to campaign for pharmaceutical companies to relinquish intellectual property rights to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. That would allow other qualified manufacturers in the South to expand production of those antidotes; countries like the US, UK and Canada have opposed the initiative. Those three wealthy nations have purchased or reserved enough doses to inoculate their populations at least four times.

High-income countries account for 16% of the world’s population, but hold more than 60% of the vaccines purchased so far.

Some forecasts put the total population of middle-income and poor countries that could be vaccinated this year at 27%. Duke University’s Center for Global Health Innovation estimates that there will not be enough vaccines to immunize the world’s population until at least 2023.

“The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure, and the price of this failure will be paid in lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,” Dr. Tedros regretfully sentenced.

The virus of inequality

“Vaccine nationalism” is the exact reflection of an unequal and unjust world in which a few remain the great beneficiaries of wealth, for which billions must make do with the leftovers.

It is the “inequality virus” that OXFAM denounces in its most recent report, in which it evidences that the current failed economic system “allows a super-rich elite to continue to accumulate wealth in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, while billions of people face great hardship to get by.”

While billionaires saw their fortunes increase between March and December 2020 by a total volume of $3.9 trillion-to amass an unimaginable $11.95 trillion-the poorest people on the planet will need “more than a decade to recover from the economic impacts of the crisis” accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Racial differences have also deepened. In the United States, the most powerful nation on the planet, if mortality rates were equal to those of the white population, nearly 22,000 Latinos and blacks would not have died from the coronavirus outbreak. In Brazil, people of African descent are 40% more likely to die from COVID than whites.

One of the conclusions of the Oxfam report is that “the pandemic is likely to increase inequality in a way never seen before”. The World Bank has warned that, in the current context, more than 100 million people could reach extreme poverty.

The 10 richest men in the world saw their net worth increase by $540 billion in the pandemic 2020 period. That list is topped by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. It also includes luxury group LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. According to Oxfam, the money hoarded by these potentates would be enough to prevent people from falling into poverty due to the effects of the virus and would also guarantee a vaccine for everyone on the planet.

Sunshine of the moral world

Among so much inequity and indifference, a small archipelago in the Caribbean, called Cuba, has been able to send thousands of doctors and nurses, in some 50 brigades of the “Henry Reeve” Internationalist Contingent, to more than thirty countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, to collaborate in the fight against the deadly disease.

Thousands of lives saved or recovered in a scenario of total complexity are the fruit of their solidarity work. The human and professional quality of these sons and daughters of the Cuban people overcomes the most diverse obstacles. It leaves a mark of affection, gratitude and example that is recognized by all those with whom they have shared and whom they have cared for.

That same country, with scarce economic resources but abundant in trained and educated talent, has been able to build an advanced biopharmaceutical industry, which is now preparing to produce 100 million doses of Soberana 02, one of the 4 vaccines on which its scientists are working. This would make it possible to immunize the entire Cuban population (it would be one of the first countries to achieve this) and to have more than 70 million doses available for other peoples of the South. There are already countries interested in acquiring it, such as Vietnam, Iran and Venezuela, Pakistan and India, the Director General of the Finlay Vaccine Institute recently announced.

Researchers from that institution are working with countries such as Italy and Canada to test the impact of the Soberana 01 vaccine on people who have already had COVID-19 and are convalescing, but are at risk of reinfection.

“We are not a multinational where (financial) return is the number one reason. We work the other way around, creating more health and return is a consequence, it is never going to be the priority,” Dr. Vicente Vérez, leader of the main vaccine research center in Cuba, explained to the press last week.

“Our world can only beat this virus one way: united,” the UN Secretary-General recently emphasized. Unfortunately, the vaccines of solidarity and justice have not been able to be applied in the rich world that dominates.

(Cubadebate)

Today, with Cuba emerging as the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct clinical trials of a COVID-19 candidate vaccine, many inside and beyond the country’s borders are wondering how this was possible, in such an adverse economic scenario, aggravated by the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government.

On the subject, Granma spoke to Doctor of Science Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of the BioCubaFarma enterprise group, who outlined the principal results achieved by our scientists in the field of vaccine production over the last 30 years, to explain how Soberana 1 was developed.

“Cuba has significant experience in the development and production of vaccines. Today, the national biopharmaceutical industry manufactures eight of the eleven products included in the expanded immunization program.”

This, he pointed out, has allowed for vaccination coverage in the country of more than 98%, with a significant impact on the elimination of several infectious diseases and reduction of the incidence rate of others.

As Dr. Martínez points out, the BC meningitis vaccine, developed by the Finlay Institute under the leadership of Dr. Concepción Campa Huergo, in the late 1980s, was the first of its kind in the world to control type B meningitis.

Patented by Cuban scientists, the vaccine received the Gold Medal from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Its use throughout the country, since the 1990s, has allowed for a significant reduction in the incidence of the disease, which is now considered under control.

“Another important contribution is undoubtedly the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, which was developed by scientists at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) under the direction of Dr. Luis Herrera Martínez.

In addition to noticeably reducing the presence of the disease in Cuba, no cases of children under the age of five infected with the hepatitis B virus have been reported since 2000.

“Currently, the entire population, up to 40 years of age, is immunized against the disease, which causes approximately a million deaths annually worldwide. It was the first vaccine in Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve certification by the World Health Organization (WHO), and we could become one of the first countries to eradicate the disease.”

Among Cuban milestones in the field, Dr. Martinez also mentioned the vaccine against haemophilus influenzae type B, originally developed at the University of Havana, based on investigations conducted by Dr. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, along with researchers from several biotechnology institutions.

“Its novelty lies in being the first such vaccine to be used in humans, including an antigen obtained via chemical synthesis, and was granted WHO certification, a necessary requirement to supply United Nations agencies.”

No less significant is the development of our pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type B, the second to be achieved worldwide and the first produced by a Latin American and Caribbean country,” he said.

“Our vaccines have international prestige, made evident by the fact that hundreds of millions of doses manufactured on the island have been supplied to more than 40 nations.”

All the experience accumulated by our institutions provided the basis for Cuba to act quickly and produce a first COVID-19 candidate vaccine, now undergoing clinical evaluation in humans, along with other potential vaccines in the advanced phase of preclinical studies, Dr. Martinez stated.

-How was the work organized at BioCubaFarma to launch this important vaccine project?

- As soon as the epidemic emerged in China, we quickly began thinking about a vaccine. In fact, we presented a development proposal at the Chinese-Cuban Research and Development Center that we have in Yonzhov, Hunang province, in China.

The project is characterized as a search for a universal vaccine that is effective against the coronavirus, not only SARS-COV-2. After being approved, it was funded for execution in China.

After the disease became a pandemic, we immediately activated the scientific advisory committees at the Finlay Vaccine Institute and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, institutions with significant experience in vaccine issues.

Likewise, we created a working group which included BioCubaFarma institutions as core participants, among them, the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM), the National Center of Biopreparations (BioCen), the Immunoassay Center (CIE) and the National Center for the Production of Laboratory Animals (Cenpalab). All would contribute their grain of salt to the task, which has had special support from the Ministry of Public Health, including the Center for State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed).

The strategy was to design multiple variants based on our own technological platforms. We have worked intensely and, logically, some variants were discarded along the way, and others are showing very good results.

One of these is Soberana 1, currently in clinical trials. Before the end of 2020, it is very likely that we will have at least another two candidate vaccines being evaluated in humans

As the candidates use different technological platforms, which do not compete in terms of production capacity, this will allow us to rapidly produce the necessary quantities to immunize our entire population and also the vaccine available to countries that need it.

Developing different variants of vaccines also serves the purpose of administering them in different ages, that is, a vaccine for children could be different from one we use in adults and, among adults, we will be able to differentiate for those over 60 years of age, who we know require a more potent vaccine to achieve the necessary levels of immunity for protection against the virus.

The challenge, launched by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, to achieve sovereignty with a vaccine of our own and produce it rapidly, mobilized our scientists and technologists. We have worked hard, in unity, with intelligence, and we are going to do our duty, which means fulfilling our duty to the people, to Fidel and Raul.

Soberana 1 is currently undergoing clinical trials and it is possible that before the end of 2020, Cuba will have at least two other candidate vaccines being evaluated in humans.

(Taken from Granma)

BioCen achieved and industrially scaled the product in only seven days and, subsequently received its Sanitary Registration from the State Center for the Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed).

The new product guarantees the continuity of microbiological testing and the epidemiological surveillance needed to control the disease on the island, contributing to the establishment of measures immediately, to minimize transmission of the contagious disease, and supporting increased active surveys to identify suspected cases, including those of asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

The medium’s creation is the result of close collaboration between BioCen and the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine. Other public health institutions and BioCubaFarma contributed to its evaluation, among them, the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), the Havana Provincial Hygiene and Epidemiology Center, and the city’s Salvador Allende Hospital.

Among the advantages of this innovative product is the secure preservation of samples, from the moment they are collected in a health care facility or isolation center, to their processing via RT-PCR at a molecular biology laboratory.

PhD Marilyn Díaz Pérez, a BioCen researcher and the principal creator of the innovation, explained to Granma that the sample transporter was developed under rigorous conditions in accordance with the most demanding international standards and based on the institution’s quality management system certified by the ISO 9001 norms for more than 20 years, following best practices recognized by the industry.

She indicated that its production in Cuba offers technological sovereignty and will replace imports, a significant accomplishment since similar products are sold on the international market at high prices.

Dr. Díaz Pérez pointed out that between April and early October, this year, the national public health system required more than 100,000 units to securely transport viral samples.

With the manufacture of the medium and swabs, developed by the Center of Neurosciences of Cuba (Cneuro) for sampling, it is now possible to complete the diagnostic kit within the country, essential given the current health contingency we face.

(Taken from Granma)

This reality is described in an article on the sector’s contributions to the COVID-19 battle, published in the Cuban Academy of Sciences’ journal, Anales, authored by five

of our country’s most accomplished scientists: Eduardo Martínez Díaz, BioCubaFarma CEO; Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, director for Science and Innovation for BioCubaFarma; BioCubaFarma CEO advisors, Luis Herrera Martínez and Agustín Lage Dávila; and academic Lila Castellanos Serra.

The text begins by recalling that Cuba’s bio-pharmaceutical sector has accumulated extensive experience in confronting complex epidemiological situations on a national level.

In case of COVID-19, the authors outline factors that were decisive in ensuring that Cuban health services were never overwhelmed and that both incidence and mortality rates have not reached even one sixth of their international levels. These critical factors include early preventative action; the integration of different institutions and sectors of society in all efforts; the direct link between the scientific community and the government; and the participation of the vast majority of the people.

When the new coronavirus, labeled sars-cov-2 and cause of the disease COVID-19, first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in December of 2019, Cuba began to carefully monitor the situation.

Before the first three cases were reported on the island, this past March, a strategy to confront the pandemic was already being implemented by the Party, state institutions, and the government.

The article notes, “The Ministry of Public Health created a COVID-19 national technical group which approved the National Prevention and Control Plan in January of 2020,” continuing, “BioCubaFarma, through its representatives in China, obtained information early regarding the outbreak in Wuhan, and measures adopted in this country. Based on this valuable information, along with reports and recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), an intense process of scientific debate was launched and the elaboration of proposals for research and development projects by its enterprises and expert groups within its scientific-technical council.”

The fact that Cuba has a national industry in state hands, with tested production and research capacity, has been a key strength, allowing results to be achieved and an effective response to the demands of the national health system provided, within a short period of time.

“The first task was guaranteeing the production of medications included in the approved National COVID-19 Research Protocol,” the authors recount, citing among these

recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b and other drugs for hospital use, to treat the disease and its complications.

Likewise, the production of facemasks and sanitization products was initiated, while the repair of intensive care equipment was stepped up, along with production of personal protective wear for health workers including facemasks with filters, face shields, googles, and airtight scrubs.

The scientific capacity of BioCubaFarma enterprises was mobilized to introduce a series of novel products used on a number of fronts in the battle to contain the disease.

The joint research program undertaken by Minsap and BioCubaFarma currently includes dozens of projects addressing a number of issues, such as the prevention of infections in at-risk and vulnerable groups; treatment of confirmed cases, and patients in serious and critical condition specifically; as well as recovery from the disease, with a view toward reducing the risk of long term consequences of the infection.

This strategy has undoubtedly served as an important tool that does not reflect the distorted interests of private property and the market economy, but rather serves as a great strength in the entire people’s struggle for life.

THE CUBAN PAHARAMCEUTICAL INDUSTRY

-The founding steps to establish the industry were taken 35 years ago by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, who consistently encouraged and guided its growth and development

-Cuba has been active in the sector since the very beginnings of modern biotechnology and established its own model of scientific work and innovation, with internationally

recognized results.

-The National Center for Scientific Research (cnic) emerged in 1965 and became the training ground for scientists who went on to establish other institutions.

-The first great success f nascent Cuban biotechnology was a vaccine against type B meningitis, that served to contain an epidemic of this illness in the 1980s.

-This decade marked the take-off of Cuban biotechnology with the creation of the Biological Front and the inauguration of the Center for Biological Research in 1982, the

Genetic engineering and Biotechnology Center (cigb) in 1986, the Inmunoensayo Center (cie) in 1987, and other institutes that in 1992 came together in the Havana Scientific Pole.

-In 2012, these institutions merged with pharmaceutical industry companies, to become part of the BioCubaFarma state enterprise group.

IN FIGURES

BIOCUBAFARMA TODAY

32 enterprises

+ 800 products delivered to the national health care system including 349 medications included in the Basic Supply

182 patents

+ 100 clinical trials being simultaneously conducted with its products at 200 sites

+ 50 countries importing its products

INMUNOENSAYO CENTER (cie):

1 562 laboratories in Cuba

546 laboratories abroad

CUBAN EXPERIENCES IN CONFRONTING EPIDEMICS:

Dengue

Bacterial Meningitis

AIDS

The participation of biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry in national health emergencies, under the leadership of our Comandante en Jefe, constitutes an example of integration with other social actors, in the mobilization of science and productive capacities with a sense of urgency and strategic focus, which this year has served as the foundation of efforts to contain COVID-19.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE COVID-19 BATTLE

BioCubaFarma has worked on 16 projects to produce new treatments and medical technologies to prevent and combat the disease. Eleven of these products involve clinical studies or trial interventions with patients and at-risk groups. Five products with preventative properties have been evaluated to stimulate the immune system, both the innate and adaptive, for different vulnerable groups, including medical personnel.

PRODUCTS

Biomodulina-t, immunomodulator of natural origin

Hebertrans (Transference factor)

Nasalferón (for nasal administration of recombinant human interferon alfa-2b)

Heberon® (recombinant human interferon alfa-2b)

Heberferon® (ifn alfa-2b + ifn gamma)

Jusvinza, peptide immunomodulator

Itolizumab, monoclonal antibody anti-cd6

MEDICATIONS BEING EVALUATED

Peptidecigb300, inhibitor of enzyme caseína quinasa.

Anti-meningococcus vaccine vamengo-bc, & cigb2020 vaccine.

Specific vaccines against sarscov-2: The Cuban immunization regimen includes 13 vaccines, 8 of which are produced in Cuba.

SOURCE: ARTICLE: “LA INDUSTRIA BIOFARMACÉUTICA CUBANA EN EL COMBATE CONTRA LA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19,” PUBLISHED IN THE CUBAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES JOURNAL “ANALES”

Cuba’s BioCubaFarma Enterprise Group and the British company SG Innovations Limited has announced the creation of a new company, BioFarma Innovations, focused on accelerating the development of new medications and their distribution in Europe and the British Commonwealth, according to a joint statement, made available to Granma.

The new partnership aims to provide broader access to BioCubaFarma’s patent-protected portfolio of biopharmaceutical products, developed by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in Cuba.

Amidst the global crisis and threats to public health systems, BioFarma Innovations will expand distribution networks and increase accessibility around the planet to Cuban products, including those being used to combat COVID-19.

Clinical trials of several products developed by BioCubaFarma for the treatment of the new coronavirus have shown promising results in several countries.

BioFarma Innovations’ strategic approach is based on the development and commercialization, in Europe and the Commonwealth, of a portfolio of patented biopharmaceutical products; providing access to BioCubaFarma’s expertise worldwide; promoting investment in new product development, including clinical trials and new drug launches.

BioFarma Innovations will be based in the UK, and Lord David Triesman, who will assume the role of CEO of the new company, has over 40 years experience with the National Health Service.

Commenting on the new partnership, Dr. Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, noted, “In line with our mission to prioritize public health, we are offering a dynamic, open approach to collaboration with global pharmaceutical companies and public health agencies throughout Europe and the Commonwealth, ranging from licensing to joint development and research agreements.”

(Source: Granma)

Winner of a National Prize from the Cuban Academy of Sciences in 2014, this humanized monoclonal antibody has been part of the medical care protocol for COVID-19 in Cuba since April.

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2015 Gold Medal winner, Itolizumab is a molecule that was developed by CIM for the treatment of lymphomas and leukemias. The antibody is capable of blocking the proliferation and activation of T-lymphocytes, behaving as an immunomodulator.

In a study on the island, 60% of COVID patients in serious or critical condition, who received the medication, recovered their respiratory functioning and survived these severe stages of the disease, as reported on the BioCubaFarma website.

Thanks to the vision of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, Cuba has developed a powerful biotechnology industry, which has focused on saving lives during the epidemic, here and around the world.

The prestige of this sector’s accomplishments continues to rise, with evidence abounding of the effectiveness of the antiviral Recombinant Human Interferon Alpha 2b in the treatment of COVID-19.

During this difficult time, interest in acquiring Cuban interferon, distributed internationally under the name of Heberon, has been expressed by some 80 countries.

(Source: Granma)

With the presence of Roberto Morales Ojeda, Political Bureau member and a Councils of State and Ministers vice president, leaders of the Party, the Federation of Cuban Workers, and representatives of various economic sectors, Díaz-Canel reiterated the importance of addressing the results achieved in 2018 by the Cuban Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industry Group, BioCubaFarma, a central organization of enterprise management.

The President recalled that this is a strategic sector within the National Plan of Economic and Social Development through 2030, to which we have a special personal commitment, he said, to Fidel, the most convinced founder of this institution, and Raúl, a consistent promoter of Cuban science.

The country, he noted, is facing an extremely complex moment, within the context of increasing hostile rhetoric from the United Sates directed toward Latin America and Caribbean. The threats and interference in important revolutionary processes in the region have expanded, as have media campaigns of false lies and accusations that seek to discredit the Cuban Revolution before the world, to support imperialism’s ambitions to destroy us.

Such events are not removed from many elements that had an impact last year on important productive indicators of BioCubaFarma’s development, the President stated.

As relevant aspects which must be addressed, he emphasized income from exports and instability in the pharmaceutical industry’s deliveries to the Public Health system, leading to numerous shortages and limited availability of basic drugs in the country’s network of pharmacies.

BioCubaFarma CEO Dr. Eduardo Martínez stated in his 2018 the balance report that the Enterprise Group reached commercial production of 1,901 MM CUP. While this represents only 94% of the projected amount, production was increased by 111 MM CUP, as compared to the previous year.

Such an increase in the level of production allowed a decrease of approximately 40% in shortfalls of medications compared to the last two years. However, a number of drugs were affected at various times during the year and this had an adverse impact on the population.

“This is a situation that is going to become more complex in 2019 and it is important that both the population and sector workers be informed, because it has to do with very severe sanctions that have been levied on sister countries with which we have cooperation agreements. Added to this is resurging financial persecution of Cuba and the economic blockade, which has prevented financing from flowing regularly,” the President said.

“We have depended on government agreements and this element is limiting our management methods, which we must change to include other perspectives that allow us to maintain this institution’s progress and growth,” the President reflected.

It is not fortuitous, given this scenario, that the country’s leadership, and in particular First Party Secretary Raúl Castro, has raised two priorities to the same level: defense of the nation and economic development, given the close relationship they share, Diaz-Canel noted.

Seeking more efficient government and enterprise management brings into focus the fundamental role that the socialist state enterprise in Cuba must play. In the opinion of the President of the Councils of State and Ministers, efficiency means work systems that articulate priorities, create adequate spaces for debate and participation, allow continuous monitoring of processes so that problems do not accumulate, propitiate proactive styles of work, with fewer obstacles and bureaucracy, and maintaining a close link with the basic productive level.

According to Díaz-Canel, “The efficient management to which we aspire has as an essential component: cadres, who, in the first place, must be sensitive to the problems of the people.”

He referred to the revolutionary discontent that should lead us to respond, advance, and solve problems, without forgetting attention to detail.

Another element noted during the discussion was training of the skilled workforce and the exodus of personnel. Regarding this issue, Díaz-Canel insisted on the importance of prioritizing work with youth, saying, “Many times, this exodus is affected by the salary problems we have, and this continues to be an underlying reason, but it is only a part of it. Today, although we don’t pay what people deserve, given the contribution they make – not because we don’t want to, but because of financing, we can’t assume that – this is one of the institutions in the country’s enterprise system with the highest average salary,” he noted.

We must ask ourselves how we pay attention to youth, how we can create conditions for their development, in which what everyone wishes to contribute is respected. In the future, we will pay more, he said, but if we don’t deal with this problem, the exodus will continue.

On another issue, he called attention to the importance of using tools like social communication focused on the internal audience, so the workforce knows the institution’s strategies; and computerization, both in the productive process, and via platforms that reach the population, so they can offer opinions, suggest, express concerns, and get answers.

The Cuban leader emphasized the importance to scientific research of maintaining ties with universities and sharing new technology being installed, making scientific poles teaching institutions. Likewise, he insisted that advantage must be taken of the existence of shorter technical university study programs, to meet the need for skilled workers.

As a strength, Díaz-Canel noted that today the country has approved all the policies proposed in the Guidelines relating to scientific-technical issues, the environment, innovation, high-tech companies, technological parks, and the university-enterprise connection, saying, “Now what remains is implementing them and taking advantage of the new opportunities they give us.”

Reinforcing negotiating teams, and adjusting them to the times, is imperative, he said, since our research will face more demanding regulations and be politicized. In this context, he called for advancing productive chains with direct foreign investment projects, not only with investments and joint ventures within the country, but abroad, as well.

“We must export more and collect payment for what we export,” he said. At the end of 2018, we had a balance of unpaid exports of a considerable amount, at a time when the country needs money. BioCubaFarma was one of the companies most involved. Since October, with a strict tracking system, we have recovered a significant amount. Import less, substitute imports, manage financing better, take advantage of innovation funds, and invest carefully with security and confidence in feasibility studies, are urgent needs to be addressed. Defending national production, including natural products, is also a demand of the country, the President reiterated.

Considering all of BioCubaFarma’s daily work and dedication, all the contributions and new products created by the institution’s scientists, Díaz-Canel said makes him proud to be Cuban, adding, “You are the pride of the Revolution.”

During the review it was learned that in 2018, 35 pharmaceutical registrations were obtained abroad, thus reaching a total of 740, which constitutes an important support to increase exports. Also noteworthy were negotiations in more than 50 countries, and talks with more than 70 new pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, for the signing of contracts, outstanding among which was the culmination of negotiations with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York, which will lead to the creation of a Cuba-U.S. joint venture in the Mariel Special Development Zone.

Although projections were not met, the investment plan reached the highest level in the last ten years, with an increase of 33% over the previous year, with special mention for advances in the CIGB-Mariel biotechnology industrial complex, and the completion of several investments projects that began operations. In research and development activity, positive results were achieved. Twenty-three new products were introduced and eight new patent requests were presented to the Cuban Office of Industrial Property, and 116 patents were granted internationally.

The news was included in the Fair’s inaugural speech presented by Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, and was confirmed to Granma by commercial specialists at the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM).

According to Lyan Contreras Álvarez, from the commercial department at the prestigious research institute, the joint enterprise will be based in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and allow for expansion, since the new venture will attract the attention of other U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

This enterprise is joining similar ones established in Thailand, China, and Singapore, all mainly focused on innovative products.

SOLUTIONS TO SAVE LIVES

The CIM presented at FIHAV 2018 a number of the products it distributes within the country and abroad, principally monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, and therapeutic injectable medications to combat cancer and other immune system diseases.

MSc Alina Hernández Santana, commercial director at the center, explained that at this moment, the CIM is not introducing any new products, as work continues on those created over the last several years. Progress is also being made in research on other drugs under development, a long process which includes multiple steps and obligatory requirements to be met.

Responding to a question about what the institution means to the Cuban public health system, she stressed that the institution’s most important contribution is providing medications that replace imports and guaranteeing their availability, to increase patient survival rates and quality of life.

She explained that there are very costly medications for which the CIM has developed biosimilar replacements, once patents held by transnational pharmaceutical companies have expired. If they had not been able to do this, the country would be spending a great deal of hard currency to procure them for patients.

She cited as an example recombinant human erythropoietin, administered to patients with chronic renal insufficiency and hemoglobin problems. She added that the molecule has been registered in Cuba since 1998.

Another contribution to life, beyond saving money on purchases abroad, is Filgrastim, a medication that has had a marked impact on treatment of cancer patients.

“This product resolves difficulties generated by cytostatic drugs which are a double edged sword, since they attack other cells as well as the disease. Without this medication, patients undergoing chemotherapy may not survive. It may not be possible to extend their lives because they cannot tolerate the medical procedure,” the expert explained.

These two products are support therapies, she pointed out, allowing the Center to make an important contribution to the health of Cubans. Among their most recent innovative products, she mentioned the lung cancer injectable medication CIMAvax-EGF®.

No doubt Cuban scientific development was well represented at FIHAV 2018, especially the pharmaceutical and biotechnology branches that continue their successful paths, consistent with the ideas and work done by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, who always provided support and encouragement.

SPECIFICATIONS

- Included in the FIHAV 2018 schedule are activities linked to the 500th anniversary of Havana’s founding, as well as the presentation of proposed projects in the capital seeking international cooperation.

- The presence of Latin America and the Caribbean is notable, with more than 20 countries participating, a reflection of the priority Cuba gives to economic integration within the region.

- Despite the tightening of the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade of the island, and the setback in diplomatic relations with Washington, companies from this country attended the event, aware of the mutual benefit that ties with Cuban enterprises can provide.

- Although well below the level of interest and real possibilities, some business relations have been established between U.S. and Cuban entities.

- Cuba’s economic foreign policy promotes as key objectives the broadening and diversification of the country’s commercial relations, with a view toward making foreign trade more efficient; expanding exports of goods and services; and improving the climate within the country to facilitate foreign investment.

- In 2018, progress was made in securing investment in prioritized sectors such as renewable energy sources, infrastructure, tourism, industry and the agro-food sector.- Regulations were approved this year with a view toward simplifying and streamlining procedures for foreign investment projects, such as the approval of measures to expedite the authorization process, as well as the design of a “single window” service for foreign investors, foreseen for next year.- Indicative of interest in accelerating the establishment of businesses relations and eliminating existing obstacles, the Cuban President himself periodically reviews programs linked to this effort, key to socio-economic progress.Source: Speech by Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment opening FIHAV 2018.

(Granma)