• 11/28/2004
  • Havana, Cuba
  • Patricia Grogg
  • Inter Press News Agency

Cuba and China have signed a package of investment and cooperation agreements that promise to be of strategic importance for the two countries, separated by thousands of kilometres but close in ideology, despite having adopted different models of development. The signing of the 16 agreements was the main event of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s two-day visit to Havana, which ended Tuesday.

A highly strategic step was the decision to strengthen institutional cooperation to promote the creation of joint ventures in the biotechnology field. This sector has achieved a significant level of development in Cuba, but needs markets and capital in order to expand further.

The two countries agreed to establish a joint working group for cooperation in biotechnology, an area in which there are already numerous bilateral projects underway, as there are in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries.

One of the most significant projects involves the joint development, manufacture and marketing of biotech products for the treatment of cancer and other autoimmune diseases.

Cuban scientists contacted by IPS reported that the Cuban-Chinese company Biotech Pharmaceutical Ltd. is currently building a cutting-edge production plant in the Beijing Development Area (BDA), one of China’s most important high-tech development zones.

The plant will produce, among other products, TheraCIM h-R3, a humanised monoclonal antibody developed in Cuba and used in the treatment of cancer. The clinical testing phase was successfully completed earlier this month, and will now be followed by the necessary registration for production and marketing in China.

The plant, which will soon be completed, will have the capacity to produce enough antibodies for the treatment of 10,000 patients with advanced head and neck cancer annually.