During a meeting with executives and scientists at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), Ms. Martin said that while the rest of the world and giant pharmaceutical companies only focus on economic growth, ‘it´s incredible to arrive in Cuba and listen to another type of approach’.
She commented that during the last few years there has been a high politicization of science in the United States, which has caused a disconnection between government and citizens.
‘We´re the only country around the world that allows giant pharma to market directly to patients and that goes against scientific principles,’ she said.
The meeting was also attended by the Co-Director of The People’s Forum Manolo de los Santos and the Editor-in-Chief of Breakthroung News Benjamin Samuel Becker, who praised the historic leader Fidel Castro´s vision in Cuba´s scientific breakthroughs.
Becker said he was moved and amazed by the results of the Cuban experience, since in his city, New York, he witnessed the ‘devastating’ aftermaths and numerous deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
De los Santos, on the other hand, was interested in the weekly meetings between the Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a group of scientists on Cuba´s pandemic and dengue fever control.
During the meeting, the CIGB´s Biomedical Research Department Director Gerardo Enrique Guillén gave visitors a detailed explanation on the center´s operation and also enlightened about separate medicines manufactured there, which include pentavalent vaccines, recombinant interferon, pregnancy tests and veterinary products, as well as he mentioned its innovative projects to treat lung cancer.
Pll/ro/mks
