US blockade hinders development of drug production company in Cuba

BAYAMO, Cuba, Nov 6 (ACN) The direct exchange with related institutions in the United States, prevented today by the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the northern country against Cuba, would be very beneficial for the only national company producing oral liquid medicines.

Known by its acronym Medilip and located in this eastern city, the entity suffers in different aspects the limitations derived from that inhuman policy, which the vast majority of the international community once again rejected on the 2nd of last month at the United Nations General Assembly.

Establishing scientific and professional relations would greatly favor the growth and integral development of our center, since it would open the way to joint projects and a greater availability of active principles, reagents and culture media, said Efren Rodriguez Lora, general director of the plant attached to the Group of Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries of Cuba.

From the academic point of view, he said, the link between researchers would benefit the training of talents, as well as access to technologies and improvements in the different processes.

Most of our productions depend on imported raw materials, whose acquisition becomes very complex due to the blockade, which deprives us of a close and important market such as the North American one. And it forces us to look for and use more distant distribution channels, which, in addition to increasing costs, complicates logistics and lengthens waiting times for the manufacture and subsequent sale of the pharmaceutical supplies, he denounced.

Rodriguez Lora explained that generic drugs represent around 85 % of Medilip's production plan, currently only between 40 and 43 %; an evident sign of the strong impact of such siege.

However, they manage to maintain the vitality of the center and the stability of its workforce through the production of natural and alternative products, thanks to the linkage with other entities in the biopharmaceutical sector and the Beekeeping Company, he concluded.