After 14 years of importing insulin from other countries, Brazil's Health Minister Alexandre Padilha revealed that his country will resume production of insulin on a large scale.
"Today is a historic day. We are showing how important it is for a country of continental dimensions such as Brazil to have its own insulin production," the minister said Tuesday.
Type 2 Diabetes
Globalization and changing lifestyles has made diabetes very common in developing countries so much so that India is known as the Diabetes Capital of the World.
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The government will invest 430 million reais ($215 million) in the project over the next five years, mostly financed by the Brazilian Development Bank, Xinhua quoted Padilha as saying.
According to Padilha, a lab in southeastern Minas Gerais state will produce the drug.
The move is part of a government strategy to increase the country's independence on drugs and medical equipment.
![Diabetes Screening]( "Diabetes Screening")
Diabetes screening is done using blood tests like fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c levels. Diabetes affects 8.3% Americans and about 10% Indians.
Since 2001, Brazil has depended on imports to provide a regular supply of insulin to diabetics as its insulin-producing lab had been sold to a foreign buyer.
"With the insulin being produced abroad, any strategic decision of a company can lead to insecurity in the insulin supply," he said, adding it would be safer for Brazilian patients to depend on insulin domestically produced.
The minister said once operational, the new factory is expected to meet half of the needs of the 1.1 million patients, who depend exclusively on insulin distributed by the public healthcare system. Brazil has some 10 million diabetics.
Source: IANS
The move is part of a government strategy to increase the country's independence on drugs and medical equipment.
Diabetes Screening
Diabetes screening is done using blood tests like fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c levels. Diabetes affects 8.3% Americans and about 10% Indians.
Advertisement
Since 2001, Brazil has depended on imports to provide a regular supply of insulin to diabetics as its insulin-producing lab had been sold to a foreign buyer.
"With the insulin being produced abroad, any strategic decision of a company can lead to insecurity in the insulin supply," he said, adding it would be safer for Brazilian patients to depend on insulin domestically produced.
The minister said once operational, the new factory is expected to meet half of the needs of the 1.1 million patients, who depend exclusively on insulin distributed by the public healthcare system. Brazil has some 10 million diabetics.
Source: IANS
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