Brazil steps closer to reagents self-reliance
This article was originally published in Clinica
Brazilian efforts to develop low-cost diagnostic reagents took a major step forward yesterday, with the approval of further funding for the R$106m (US$55m) centre that will house the country's largest production facility. The national development bank (BNDES) has committed R$30m to building the "integrated centre for prototypes, biopharmaceuticals and reagents" (CIPBR), which is scheduled to come into operation in 2009, as part of the Fiocruz foundation's Biomanguinhos biologics R&D division.
Housing "the country's most advanced R&D laboratory infrastructure", the project aims to reduce the reliance on the commercial bioscience industry for diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. "The technological capacity of the new facility will enable Fiocruz to adhere increasingly to national policies of industrial development, so as to reduce the country's dependency on the [commercial] biotech sector," said the health ministry. Details of the types of reagents that the centre will target have not been unveiled.