Mayabeque, Cuba: The National Center for Bio-preparations is immersed in the large-scale production of the vaccine candidates Soberana 01 and Soberana Plus, from the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV), to guaranteeing the necessary doses for the remaining trials clinical and intervention studies.
The Head of the Parenteral Production Plants where these products are obtained, Humberto Pérez de la Concepción, declared to the Cuban News Agency that gradually, and according to the results, they will escalate in order to vaccinate the whole population, the clinical trials in other countries and export.
He added that after completing the technology transfer of the three anti-COVID-19 candidates of the IFV, they gather raw materials, reagents, packaging materials and other supplies to meet the expected deadlines.
Our production capacity depends on the presentation of the drug, if it is in single-dose format, one dose per vial, between 50 thousand and 60 thousand units can be achieved daily, and when it is multi-dose, around five doses per vial, many more come out, the specialist explained.
However, he pointed out that they have the conditions to double these figures from the increase in formulation volumes and the number of bulbs filled.
Pérez de la Concepción said that until now, BioCen is planning to obtain all the sovereigns necessary for the vaccination of the Cuban people in 2021.
BioCen’s production director, Dr. Gabriel González García, ratified the good practices in the center and its capacities to assume this productive scale, to which several improvements in the facilities also pay, among them, a significant electro-energy investment.
In that institution, the more than 300 thousand doses of Soberana 02 necessary for phase III of the clinical trial were previously produced in the eight municipalities of the capital and in the intervention study with volunteers of health workers, the biopharmaceutical sector and other segments defined by the Ministry of Public Health.
Cuba also has other vaccine candidates against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19: Mambisa, which is applied nasal, and Abdala, administered intramuscularly, both developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
BioCen is located in the municipality of Bejucal, in Mayabeque, and belongs to the BioCubaFarma Business Group; Its mission consists of the execution of research, development and innovation processes and services, for the production and commercialization of more than 170 products.