Cuba to produce injectable antibiotics for intensive care therapies

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 2 (ACN) An injectable cephalosporin plant, expected to be completed later this year, will allow the production in Cuba of a group of injectable beta-lactam antibiotics, widely used in intensive therapies, and which are currently imported at high costs.

This was reported today in Granma newspaper, and specified that these drugs are Meropenem 500 mg and 1 mg, Ceftriaxone (Rocephin) 1 g, Cefotaxime 1 g, Cefazolin 500 mg and 1 g, Cefuroxime 750 mg, Ceftazidime 1 g, and Cefepime 1 g.

The plant will be the only producer of this type of antibiotic in the country, and 90 % of the equipment to be used is already in Cuba, Xenia Madrazo Sagre, general director of the entity, emphasized.

At the same time, Dr. Eduardo Martinez Diaz, president of BioCubaFarma, pointed out that the importation of these antibiotics costs the country between 7 and 8 million dollars a year, which is why producing them in the country will reduce costs.