The meeting took place last week during an official visit by the Cuban official and his delegation, during which they reaffirmed the will to create the Latin American Medicines Agency, Invima said in a statement released on Tuesday.

It explained that the regulatory authorities from Colombia, Mexico and Cuba are the ones leading the formulation and structuring of the agency, which would already have seven other countries that have expressed their interest in this initiative, namely Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Dominica.

With respect to how to understand this agency, Invima’s Office of International Affairs explained that its importance lies in the generation of a medical convergence among the member countries.

Rossi pointed out that ‘this is one of the most interesting and concrete integration projects and basically aims to make drug regulation common for the entire Latin American region and adapt it to our needs.’

‘We have taken a very important step with the visit by the Cuban minister of Foreign Trade and Ambassador Javier Caamaño, who expressed the total commitment of their government and healthcare authorities to promoting this initiative.’

The Invima director indicated that they will continue to advance the approaches and relevant steps to consolidate the structuring of this agency.

The possible medical instance continues to raise awareness in the region as an initiative similar to the European Medicines Agency, but in accordance with the conditions and specific characteristics of Latin America and the Caribbean.

jg/jav/mem/otf.