Cuba advances in technological sovereignty for the diagnosis of COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 25 (ACN) Cuba is advancing towards full technological sovereignty in the diagnosis of COVID-19, with the development of several innovative projects for the national production of biotechnology inputs and products.

Dr. José Luis Fernández Yero, advisor to the president of the BioCubaFarma business group, explained that the search for this independence covers all the steps in obtaining results, from sampling to processing.

Due to the limitations imposed by the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government against the Caribbean nation, and the better conditions of rich countries to obtain these products, it was necessary to have a national production to support our needs, Fernandez Yero pointed out.

Until mid-March, an average of 16,950 swabs were manufactured in Cuba every working day (for nasopharyngeal swabs), using a semi-manual method at the Cneuro medical supplies production plant.

Soon to be inaugurated, this entity has an automatic manufacturing line for such materials, already in the final phase for its start-up and able to guarantee the country's needs with more than 30 thousand swabs per day.

In addition, a factory for the exclusive production of surgical masks is being completed there.

We are prepared to carry out all the necessary tests; the country has spared no resources, the specialist pointed out.

Another important process in the detection of the virus is the transportation of the sample in a special medium, which has been developed by the Biopreparations Center (Biocen), which delivered the BTV transport medium to the Ministry of Public Health in April 2020.

More than 1,500,000 units have been produced so far, while they are preparing to obtain an average of 50,000 per day, and are working on a new means of transport that inactivates the virus, so that it reaches the laboratory useful for diagnosis, but with a significant reduction of the biological risk.

Cuban scientists are also working on the extraction of RNA and DNA from the samples in an equipment developed by the Immunoassay Center, and on the production of a real-time PCR from the Genetics and Biotechnology Center and the Immunoassay Center, self-sufficiency in the production of primers, probes and enzymes for PCR.

The first products have already been successfully elaborated, one of the two necessary enzymes is available and work is being done on the second one, something of fundamental importance since importing just one of these would cost the country about six million Euros, to guarantee six months of work.

The specialist also referred to the development of the Sumasignal SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assay (E gene), which will cost approximately less than seven dollars, while the cost of an imported test is 40.

It is expected that by the end of April the assay will have yielded the necessary positive results in order to proceed with its registration with the regulatory entity, he said.

By obtaining a more accessible source of supplies than those previously used, equivalent samples were imported, and after a process of evaluation by the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, a 100 percent coincidence of the national samples with respect to the international kits was determined, said Fernández Yero.

He also said that, as a purpose of the national industry, the assembly of a complete manufacturing line of these plastic kits and other necessary supplies stands out.

All BioCubaFarma institutions participate in the search for technological sovereignty, said the advisor to the president of that business group, among them the Immunoassay Center, with more than 2,000 kits installed in the national territory, 169 municipal laboratories and 395 abroad, which have studied more than 200 million people, of which 48 million are children.
Other entities produce and develop medical equipment, among them, the Ministry of Industry, the Union of Military Industries, as well as universities and research centers.

This path taken guarantees technological sovereignty not only for the confrontation of COVID-19, but also for the rest of the network of laboratories for the confrontation in the field of epidemiology, with 23 molecular biology laboratories.

In addition to PCR analysis, molecular biology is that branch of science which, when applied to microbiology, makes it possible to determine, among other things, the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, to have a high degree of resistance to antibiotics, to have a high degree of resistance to antibiotics, to have a high degree of resistance to antibiotics and to have a high degree of resistance to antibiotics.