Source: IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks)

JOHANNESBURG, 28 March, (IRIN) - 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 ig-
noring 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 lo-
cated in West Havana, known as the "scientific pole", have developed
a range of new vaccines and drugs. These include products for treat-
ment 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 agree-
ments for their countries to cooperate in maritime commerce, air ser-
vices, sports, culture and science and technology. Both sides are in-
terested 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 - in-
fected 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 re-
ported sales of US $45 million in 1999 with operations in 38 coun-
tries. Lead products include hepatitis vaccine, novel human and ani-
mal vaccines, pharmaceuticals, transgenic plants and genetically
modified fish. "Cuba is certainly poised to become a major player in
the manufacture of generic patented drugs," Grey said. Last week,
Castro touted Cuba's development of world-class AIDS drugs and of-
fered 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 medi-
cine. 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 par-
allel 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.

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