Guantánamo.- Eduardo Martinez Diaz, Cuban deputy prime minister, described the opening of the Biopharmaceutical Research Institute, part of the Cuban-Chinese joint venture Biotech Pharmaceutical, in the northern Chinese city of Changzhi, as a milestone.
The institute is intended to produce innovative drugs for cancer immunotherapy and the treatment of neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases.
During a tour of the facilities, Martinez Diaz stated that, thanks to the friendship and cooperation ties between the two countries, Cuba received approximately $200 million, used to acquire raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry and for research and development projects, the newspaper Granma reported.
The official specified that more than ten production plants operate in China, some of them jointly owned, that manufacture genetic products included in the Caribbean nation’s basic drug regimen.
The opening of the institute strengthens the positioning of Cuban science in Asia and consolidates a model of South-South technological integration, with an expected impact on the availability of high-value-added medicines for both markets.
