COVID-19 vaccine produced in Latin America

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COVID-19 vaccine produced in Latin America

Generics/General | Posted 18/03/2022 0 Post your comment

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved a COVID-19 vaccine produced in Latin America at the end of 2021. It is a version of the immunizing agent from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca, manufactured jointly by Argentina and Mexico.

The vaccine, called Vaccine COVID-19 (ChAdOx1-S [recombinant]), is manufactured by the Argentine company mAbxience, which reproduces its active pharmaceutical ingredient, and the Mexican company Laboratorios Liomont, which formulates, fills and packages the product for distribution.

This AstraZeneca manufactured vaccine is already used in some Latin American and Caribbean countries but its inclusion in the WHO list paves the way for its approval and commercialization in other countries, and allows its acquisition and distribution through PAHO's Revolving Fund and the Covax global mechanism, the international mechanism to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

The inclusion of this vaccine on the WHO emergency use list is an important milestone for Latin America and highlights the importance of technology transfer to increase the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in the region and contributes to their global supply.

On the other hand, other COVID-19 vaccines have been created in Latin America but have not yet been officially recognized by WHO, such as the three COVID-19 vaccines produced in Cuba, the Abdala vaccine, created by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana, and Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, designed by the Finlay Institute.

Nevertheless, according to author Ortiz-Prado et al., there are unapproved and even illegal sale and use of biologicals, biosimilars and related products, with or without approved therapeutic indications in the treatment of COVID-19 in Ecuador [1].

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LATIN AMERICAN FORUM The new section of the ‘Latin American Forum’ on GaBI has been launched. The objective of this new section is to provide you with all the latest news and updates on developments of generic and biosimilar medicines in Latin America in Spanish. View this week’s headline article: Nomenclatura de biológicos y biocomparables en México Browse the news in the Latin American Forum! Register to receive the GaBI Latin American Forum newsletter. Inform colleagues and friends of this new initiative. LATIN AMERICAN FORUM Se ha lanzado la nueva sección del ‘Foro Latinoamericano’ sobre GaBI. El objetivo de esta nueva sección es brindarle las últimas noticias y actualizaciones sobre desarrollos de medicamentos genéricos y biosimilares en América Latina en español. Vea el artículo principal de esta semana: Nomenclatura de biológicos y biocomparables en México !Explore las noticias en el Foro Latinoamericano! Regístrese para recibir el boletín informativo GaBI Foro Latinoamericano. Informe a colegas y amigos sobre esta nueva iniciativa.

Reference
1. Ortiz-Prado et al. Biotechnological therapies and biosimilars for COVID-19: scarcities, poor regulation, and pharmaceutical black market: a case analysis in Ecuador. Generics and Biosimilars Initiative Journal (GaBI Journal). 2021;10(4):184-92. doi:10.5639/gabij.2021.1004.023

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