Cuba poised to enter generic AIDS drug market

South African President Thabo Mbeki signed a series of agreements in Havana this week with his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro, one of which could clear the way for the two countries to cooperate in producing low-cost AIDS drugs while ignoring drug company patents. Cuba has the means to develop and manufacture a wide range of generic AIDS drugs, a pharmacology expert told IRIN on Wednesday. “Despite its economic problems Cuba has invested very heavily in biotechnology and has made major advances in drug manufacture,” said Andrew Gray, a lecturer in pharmacy and pharmacolgy at the University of Durban Westville. Thousands of scientists working at some 38 institutes located in West Havana, known as the “scientific pole”, have developed a range of new vaccines and drugs. These include products for treatment of cancers of the lung, head, neck, breast and ovaries, with some in multinational clinical trials. After three hours of talks on Tuesday, Castro and Mbeki signed agreements for their countries to cooperate in maritime commerce, air services, sports, culture and science and technology. Both sides are interested in using the science and technology agreement to develop low-cost alternatives to the expensive drugs used to treat HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, a Cuban government source said. The price of such drugs places them out of reach of most people in developing countries where AIDS is spreading rapidly. South Africa faces an AIDS epidemic with some 4.7 million South Africans - one in nine - infected with HIV, according to a government study. The Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) formed a marketing subsidiary, Heber Biotec SA in 1991, which reported sales of US $45 million in 1999 with operations in 38 countries. Lead products include hepatitis vaccine, novel human and animal vaccines, pharmaceuticals, transgenic plants and genetically modified fish. “Cuba is certainly poised to become a mjor player in the manufacture of generic patented drugs,” Grey said. Last week, Castro touted Cuba’s development of world-class AIDS drugs and offered to help Brazil and South Africa ignore drug company patents and produce the medicines. The South African government is waging a landmark court battle with 39 large pharmaceutical companies to facilitate access to cheap medicine. In Johannesburg on Tuesday, health ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) agreed to support the South African government in its legal fight, and to recognise the right of poor countries to have access to cheaper AIDS drugs. Delegates from 33 countries argued that the world’s poorest countries should have options including parallel importation of medicines and compulsory licensing, allowing countries to import brand-name drugs from other countries where they are sold at lower prices and to issue licenses to produce cheaper versions of patented drugs. Pharmaceutical companies argue both strategies compromise patent rights. “Cuba entering the market could generate huge support for Castro from poor countries as he is seen to strike a blow against the capitalist drug companies,” Grey said. With the end of Soviet support for Cuba in the early nineties the economy nosedived, and the manufacture of cheap AIDS drugs could be an important foreign currency earner for the cash-strapped island. “The next step is middle-income countries like South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Cuba and India collaborating in the manufacture of generic drugs and thereby posing a serious challenge to the big western drug companies,” Grey added. Already, in a marriage of technology and manufacturing muscle, Cuba’s Heber Biotec SA has formed a joint-venture with the giant Indian drug company Panacea Biotec to mass-produce vaccines.