[Ip-health] IPS Terra Viva UN Journal- Cuba's World Class Pharma Puts People First

[Terri - Louise Beswick]

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Cuba's World Class Pharma Puts People First


HAVANA, Dec 1 (IPS) - Cuban biotechnology and pharmaceutical products are a=
lready among the country's major exports, and the industry is on course to =
continue developing while maintaining a firm focus on making a real differe=
nce to the health of all Cubans and of people in the numerous countries whe=
re Cuba provides medical assistance.


The existence of market forces is a reality that has to be reckoned with be=
cause of production costs, but health decisions cannot be governed by busin=
ess considerations alone, said Agust=C3=ADn Lage, head of the Centre for Mo=
lecular Immunology (CIM), whose anti-cancer product Nimotuzumab is currentl=
y undergoing clinical trials in the United States.


Lage and other Cuban scientists presented the strategy and results obtained=
 by Cuba's biotechnology industry at the Global Forum for Health Research, =
held mid-November in Havana. The biotech industry, which began to develop i=
n Cuba in the 1980s, now holds some 1,200 international patents.


Cuban pharmaceutical research centres had to adopt policies on intellectual=
 property and protect their inventions with patents in order to generate ex=
port revenues, as otherwise a high-tech sector like this could not exist, L=
age explained. "At the CIM, about 60 percent of the patents are used commer=
cially in some way," he added. According to official reports delivered at p=
arliamentary sessions in late 2008, biotech export sales increased by 20 pe=
rcent last year compared with 2007. Export sales totalled 340 million dolla=
rs in 2008, according to estimates by academics.


Luis Herrera, head of the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology =
(CIGB), said the development and sustainability of the industry is based on=
 its "closed circle" approach, which deals with the full life cycle of its =
products, from research to production and marketing. "Without this approach=
, we would not have got the same results," he said.


Another key element is cooperation and exchange between all the institution=
s. "From the start we realised that we were too poor to indulge in competit=
ion with each other," said Herrera, who added that as well as integration, =
the industry is characterised by a "vocation" for applied research in line =
with national interests. "A result is not a result until it has a positive =
impact on the health system," he said. The CIGB, the leading institution of=
 Cuba's biotech industry, founded over 20 years ago, has recently produced =
a vaccine against hepatitis B, a synthetic vaccine against Haemophilus infl=
uenzae type B, and Heberprot-P, regarded as the only effective treatment in=
 the world for diabetic foot ulcers.


CIGB scientists take pride in showing how all Cubans have benefited from th=
eir research, one way or another. Eight years after the hepatitis B vaccine=
 came into use, there has not been a single case of the illness in children=
 under five on the island, Herrera said. When this Caribbean island nation =
plunged into economic crisis in 1990, triggered by the collapse of the Sovi=
et Union and the East European socialist bloc, the government decided to ca=
rry on developing the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, creating=
 new facilities in what is known as the West Havana Scientific Pole.


The Carlos J. Finlay Institute for vaccine development opened in 1991, the =
National Biopreparations Centre, which ramps up production for the biotech =
institutions, in 1992, and in 1994 the CIM was established, for research an=
d development and production of monoclonal antibodies.



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