CUBA – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Cuba is set to implement financing of US$45 million to strengthen Cuba’s biopharmaceutical industry, according to official sources.
The purpose of the loan, signed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is to “improve the national response capacity against diseases such as COVID-19.”
The report, which cites a UNDP statement, points out that the implementation of the budget contemplates the reinforcement of the infrastructure for the production of injectable antibiotics, parenteral solutions (serums), generic and biosimilar drugs, diagnostic kits, and medical equipment.
A portion of the funds will go to the purchase of diagnostic medical equipment, health supplies, and protective materials used by professionals to treat people infected with the coronavirus and other communicable diseases.
In addition, the loan is granted under the specialized mechanism established by CABEI for activities and operations with the Republic of Cuba.
The initiative, which will benefit more than 11 million people through the production of 200 million doses of vaccines, is expected to achieve higher levels of economic productivity.
The new resources come at a time when BioCubaPharma is in financial trouble because it has reportedly not been able to collect most of the US$200 million from the sale of Sobrana and Abdala vaccines, group president Eduardo Martínez Díaz confirmed of pharmaceutical business on September 14.
BioCubaFarma, the Cuban organization of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries, is a holding company that manages and coordinates national efforts in the biopharma sector to produce medicines and medical equipment and to provide high-quality life science services of high economic and social impact.
The state-run company spent half of its resources in 2021 to develop a drug against Covid-19, but has not been able to recover the investment from its exports.
Although it did not specify which countries it sold its products to, the newspaper published in 2021 that Vietnam had purchased five million doses and batches of Sobrana were sent to Iran, although in that case produced the serum in collaboration with Tehran.
There were also shipments of more than one million vaccines to Venezuela last January.
With this loan, the economic productivity of the national biopharmaceutical industry is expected to increase with the development of “innovative drugs and modernization of technology, which will contribute to diversification for the benefit of the national health system and other countries in the region.
At the signing ceremony, CABEI executive president Dante Mossi said, “As a development bank and with the consent of all our member countries, I am pleased to celebrate today this health support response aimed at protecting the lives of Cuban families by strengthening the health system.
“I am also grateful for the support of our partners; UNDP’s support is of vital importance for the development of this initiative.”
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