A protocol of intent for the creation of a National Center for Biopharmaceuticals and Biomolecules was signed today (19), in Botucatu, in the interior of São Paulo, between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI) and the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho ( Unesp). 
The center will make it possible to scale the production of biological medicines. Among the new drugs that may be produced are Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which are used, for example, in the production of vaccines.
The center will have 1,470 square meters and will house research laboratories and space for coworking (collaborative or cooperative work) to host startups of biotechnology. The building will also have manufacturing and quality control wings. The factory will have the capacity to produce samples for research and clinical tests.
During the event, the MCTI minister, Marcos Pontes, highlighted the initiative as a means of bringing knowledge closer to the needs of society. “One of the things that we noticed in the pandemic right away was this gap (gap)”, he stated. According to Pontes, every five papers published by Brazilian scientists, only one is used practically in the country. “What is missing? Link between research and companies.”
For the rector of Unesp, Pasqual Barretti, the university “has no right to disconnect from public policies”. He recalled that the pandemic showed the importance and size of the Unified Health System (SUS). “The SUS must advance and these measures in the area of science and technology will bring science closer to the SUS and it will be even greater for the good of society and for the good of all.”
According to the MTCI, the value of the resources that will be allocated to the creation of the center has not yet been defined.
