Dr. Rolando Perez, vice president and general manager of the Biotech Pharma Company, said today that the progress of this project between Cuba and China will allow that more biotech products are present in the Asian market in coming years.
Materialized in 2000 and implemented in 2005, one of Biotech Pharma's leading product is Nimotuzumab, a monoclonal drug considered the best of its kind, which is registered in China for treating nasopharyngeal cancer.
About 12,000 Chinese patients have so far benefited from this medicine, leading Biotech product and first of its kind developed and produced in China, which is now undergoing further clinical trials for use in other tumor sites, Perez said.
In conversation with Prensa Latina in his office located in a development area on the outskirts of Beijing, the Cuban scientist said that the dividends accumulated this year double investment that Cuba made in this joint venture, which has 46 percent of its shares.
Dr. Perez, one of the foreign technicians decorated last year by the Chinese government for his valuable contribution to this country, stated that Biotech has had a 30-percent annual growth and will continue progressing.
According to the scientist, this company is an example on how collaboration could work between the countries, a cooperation in which both parties win and complements capacities each other.
Biotech also has the approval to begin a clinical trial of another product, a monoclonal antibody for treating autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, severe psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and chronic diseases with little control medication level.
The company has about 300 workers, including hundreds of vendors who promote their products throughout this vast state. Of that staff, 14 are Cubans, among them four scientists, five masters in science, and four of them in leadership posts.