TEHRAN – Iran and Cuba have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand international cooperation in the health sector and increase access to health products.

Iran's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Cuba’s Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Devices (CECMED) signed a mutual recognition agreement relating to pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and products on Tuesday, Mehr news agency reported.

According to the MOU, licensed companies and manufacturing centers will be recognized in the other country. Also, pharmaceutical products and medical equipment manufactured by each party will be registered and approved in the other country.

The official registration certificates for existing and new products will be issued within a maximum of a month, without the need for re-evaluation, upon submission of the required documents. This will facilitate access to the markets of both countries.

Holding joint educational courses in regulatory affairs, as well as sharing technical, engineering, and biological knowledge and experiences to construct and equip factories, are among other parts of the signed MOU.

The strategic agreement is an important step towards expanding scientific, technological, and economic ties between the two countries in the health sector, laying the basis for active participation in educational,  research projects, particularly vaccines, biological products, and laboratory diagnostic techniques.

Joint efforts

In September,  Ali Jafarian, the senior advisor to the health minister, and Tania Margarita Cruz Hernandez, Cuba’s Acting Minister of Public Health, discussed ways to expand medical and scientific ties between the two countries, taking further actions on boosting cooperation in vaccine production and the biotechnology sector.

The meeting was centred around following up on formerly reached agreements between Iran and Cuba, promoting scientific and technical collaborations with the Pasteur Institute in order to transfer pneumococcal vaccine production technology from the Finlay Institute of Vaccines. The officials also discussed potential capacities for manufacturing the vaccine.

Moreover, Jafarian held meetings with other Cuban officials such as deputy minister of foreign affairs, the deputy minister of foreign trade and investment, the head and director general of Cuba’s Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Devices (CECMED), the directors of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), the Group of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries in Cuba, BioCubaFarma, the Cuban Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM), as well as the largest hospital in Cuba, Hermanos Ameijeiras.

Medical ties between Iran and Cuba date back more than three decades, and the first cooperation between the two countries began with the transfer of technology for manufacturing hepatitis B vaccine from Cuba’s CIGB to the Pasteur Institute of Iran.

In recent years, the two countries successfully developed a Covid-19 vaccine (PastoCovac), and the process of transferring technology for the pneumococcal vaccine is currently underway.

According to Jafarian, Cuba is one of the countries in Latin America with the highest level of cooperation with Iran in different fields, including the health sector.

“Thanks to advanced technologies in Cuba, the two countries have benefited from collaborative partnerships in the health sector, such as developing vaccines,” IRNA quoted Jafarian as saying.

MT/MG