St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.— Perhaps "complementarity" is the key word that marked the first moments of this Tuesday in the city-port. It was pronounced by the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, in his exchange with executives of Biocad, the largest innovative company in biotechnology in the Eurasian nation.
In this important scientific center - the first visited by the high-level Cuban delegation on Tuesday - the hosts expressed to the Head of State that the Russian Federation and the Republic of Cuba are united by many years of deep friendship.
A cardinal idea emerged from the Russian scientists' presentation: history says that only by working together can all obstacles be overcome.
Among other purposes, Biocad carries out the full cycle of development, research and production of drugs to treat oncological, autoimmune and orphan diseases (chronic, serious and rare diseases, affecting one in every 5,000 people). The company has six industrial facilities, some 3,000 employees and 40 laboratories. After 24 years of existence, it has ensured the production of thousands of drugs for the Russian population.
What Biocad produces - as reported at the morning's meeting - is exported to more than 30 countries, especially those of South Asia, Africa and Latin America, including the largest of the Antilles, where three of the scientific center's products are already registered.
Regarding the prospects for the development of cooperation between the two countries, Biocad's directors valued that they are enormous, with the possibility of increasing the supply of drugs already present in the Caribbean country.
President Díaz-Canel said that Biocad is a company known for its prestige in the biopharmaceutical field; and made an analogy between the Russian center and BioCubaFarma, because both entities share fundamental concepts, such as the closed cycle or the ways in which business development has been evolving.
"We see a lot of similarity and perhaps complementarity between the products developed by you and us," said the dignitary, who also commented that the steps forward already taken respond to consensus in the agenda reached with President Vladimir Putin.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba thanked his interlocutors for "the supplies they have made as humanitarian aid to our country". He also emphasized that there are open proposals to be studied by both parties in the development of innovative products.
The second point on Tuesday morning's itinerary was Geropharm, a biotechnology company that has placed the Russian Federation among the leaders in the field of active life expectancy, which currently has 350 researchers, and whose portfolios include a range of all the most demanded insulins.
An exchange between the Head of State and the company's hosts made it possible to learn that in Cuba five insulins produced by Geropharm have already obtained sanitary registrations from Cecmed (Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices), while three drugs are in the process of registration.
Before touring the heart of the medicine plant, President Diaz-Canel Bermudez commented on the possibility of undertaking joint projects, in addition to affirming that on the island "your insulin is very well known", and that they, the Russian friends, "are permanent guests" to the largest of the Antilles.