Cuba denounces damage caused by U.S. blockade on drug production

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The tightening of the U.S. blockade policy against Cuba is affecting national drug production in the Caribbean nation, Tania Urquiza, vice president of the BioCubaFarma business group, said Tuesday.

“The unilateral policy of the United States toward the island has led to a financial siege of the island nation as well as the refusal of a group of shipping companies to cooperate with Cuba,” the official said at a press conference at the headquarters of AICA Laboratories on the outskirts of Havana.

Urquiza pointed out that the U.S. blockade restricts Cuba’s access to raw materials, inputs, spare parts and reagents needed to manufacture pharmaceuticals in the island nation.

Biopharmaceutical sector officials also denounced that the blockade has significantly affected the production of salbutamol and fluticasone (spray) at MedSol Laboratories in Havana, causing shortages.

Cuba needs to import more than 10,000 types of supplies to sustain the national pharmaceutical program, including about 5,000 reagents.

BioCubaFarma manufactures about 1,000 products, about 80 percent of which are for the public health system.

Priorities for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Cuba include hemodialysis, serums, and medicines for the care of the critically ill and for the treatment of chronic, non-communicable diseases.

Under the U.S. blockade of Cuba, the Caribbean nation does not have access to equipment and technology with more than 10 percent U.S. content.

With information from Xinhua