2023-09-05 05:01:00
Work continues on the first public drug laboratory in the north of the country, which will depend on the National University of La Rioja (UNLaR). The building already has the necessary equipment and the goal is for the plant to start operating in 2024. Unlike private industry, which only seeks to maximize profits and produces the most widely used drugs, specialists project the production of creams, emulsions and gels that are demanded by health institutions and the local population.
“In principle we are going to articulate with the Ministry of Public Health of the Province and we are going to attend to the needs of our territory. In northwestern Argentina there is no public drug factory and this Laboratory was thought of as a health policy and as a possibility of access to medicines by the vast majority,” says Alicia Parodi, Secretary of Science and Technology at UNLaR.
For this reason, from the University they have already made purchases to make liquid and semi-liquid formulations, as is the case of gels. With a population that registered cases of dengue and chikungunya during 2023, especially in March and April, one of the priorities is to develop low-cost repellents. To date, a top brand product ranges between 1,000 and 1,500 pesos.
In addition, equipment has already been purchased to compress the medication powder and make pills with different formulations. However, the first step is to solve the immediate needs of the Hospital Escuela y de Clínicas of UNLaR.
“We are working together to see what are the needs that we can solve ourselves,” says Belén González Vera, operational director of the Academic Laboratory for the Development and Preparation of Medicines. In this sense, one of the requests that they made from the Hospital was the creation of a gel for the exams that are done with ultrasound instruments, such as the machines that are used to perform ultrasounds. Later on, the intention of the Laboratory is to introduce active principles such as analgesics and healing for burns and sores into this gel.
Right to health
The Academic Laboratory for the Development and Preparation of Medicines will not only be the first in the northwest of the country, but it is strategic for the development of public health and sanitary sovereignty. “We have a provincial State present that deals with the health of its population with head hospitals and other centers that complete the local health system. However, like any dependent country, accessing medicines is a problem since laboratories charge exorbitant prices”, Parodi points out.
In this regard, one of the assistance policies carried out is the Remediar plan, which contributes to guaranteeing access to and coverage of essential medicines through their direct distribution to Primary Health Care Centers. Currently, the free supply reaches more than 8 thousand locations throughout the country every month.
Through this program, which includes analgesics, antacids, anti-anemics, anti-asthmatics, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, anti-inflammatories, bronchodilators, cardiovascular, corticosteroids and gynecology, among others, drug coverage is guaranteed to 16 million people who depend on the public health system .
national and concentrated
Argentina is one of the few countries worldwide where national capital laboratories have a presence and participation in the domestic market higher than that of foreign laboratories. However, according to a report prepared by the Ministry of Economy in 2022, it is an industry concentrated in a few hands since 10 laboratories are the ones that gather half of the total turnover.
In this sense, they are non-innovative laboratories dedicated to the preparation of drugs that have already been developed and whose patents have expired. In addition, they are in charge of setting the price of drugs and the marketing margins for drugstores and pharmacies.
While private laboratories develop products where the difference is in the brand, the public ones complement each other and produce drugs that cover the needs of primary care, high-priced drugs and formulations that are not profitable for the industry.
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