ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, seeks to increase the channels for greater cooperation in a world where NO few selfish behaviors prevail, hence the hope for the advancement of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in Cuba.
By Roberto Morejón
ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, seeks to increase the channels for greater cooperation in a world where NO few selfish behaviors prevail, hence the hope for the advancement of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in Cuba.
In the midst of an acute confrontation with the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuban scientists developed five vaccine candidates, three of them finally approved, so far administered to more than 83 percent of the population.
But the country shows other advances in the fight against SARS-Cov-2, by producing 12 drugs in the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industry, eight of them innovative.
Applied in the different phases of the pandemic, with them and with the selfless and professional work of the health personnel, it was possible to recover 99 percent of the people suffering from the respiratory disease.
With a lethality rate of 0.86 percent, among the best indicators worldwide, Cuba has helped other ALBA nations and other latitudes to face the pandemic.
But in the period of extreme rigor in the face of the evolution of the disease in almost two years, scientists and technicians have NOT ceased research on the potential of certain traditional products to show unique results.
They continue clinical trials in the direction pointed out and in the amplification of the positive effects.
They do not rule out expanding the field of applications of drugs in worldwide demand, such as Heberprot-P, so far only intended for the treatment of diabetic foot, and the therapeutic vaccine CIMAvax-EGF, against lung cancer.
These are just a few examples of work in the field of research in this Caribbean country, where, despite the severe limitations imposed by the U.S. blockade, significant resources are allocated to science, technology and innovation.
Thanks to them, the Biocubafarma business group has among its priorities to increase the qualification of the labor force, achieve the stable production of drugs, some of which are currently in deficit locally, and move forward in business with foreign investment.
For Latin America, the region hardest hit by the pandemic, and ALBA in particular, Cuba's development of the above-mentioned research is a welcome prospect.
