Cuba and Brazil on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they agreed to promote cooperation in producing medicines to be used against major diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
The document on technical cooperation in "strengthening clinical research organization in cancer" was signed by Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales and his Brazilian counterpart Alexandre Padilha, said the official daily Granma.
Padilha said he hopes "the Cuban biotech drugs could be produced and sold in Brazil," adding that through this new agreement the two countries "can conquer the global market of treatments against cancer, diabetes and kidney problems."
During the past 25 years, Cuba has achieved worldwide recognition as a leader in the global market for effective biotechnological drugs for diabetes and cancer.
Among the most commonly used Cuban drugs today are the Heberprot-P, a drug that can effectively reduce amputation among patients with mellitus diabetes that is troubling some 190 million people worldwide, according to the drug manufacturers.
Recently Cuban scientists also announced the creation of a drug, called CimaVax-EGF, that can be used as a therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer and is now being projected to markets worldwide.
Official figures showed that the production of biotechnological medicines in Cuba generates over 100 million U.S. dollars in foreign exchange revenues annually.
