Mexico, Colombia and Cuba advanced this Thursday in the creation of the Agency for Medicines of Latin America and the Caribbean (Amlac), an initiative with which they intend to strengthen the health capacities of the region and expedite the approval of medicines and vaccines in health emergencies.
Directors of the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima) of Colombia; the Center for the State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices of Cuba (Cecmed), and the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) of Mexico, in addition to the foreign ministries of the three countries, met this Thursday, according to pointed out the Mexican Ministry of Health in a statement.
??Colombia, ??Cuba and ??Mexico advance in the initiative of the Medicines Agency of Latin America and the Caribbean. This mechanism reinforces regulatory convergence among the region’s health agencies.https://t.co/rJA0fUvX9Y pic.twitter.com/4D2VUJeZ3m
— COFEPRIS (@COFEPRIS) March 16, 2023
“During the meeting, the bases were analyzed to initiate an articulated work of regulatory convergence that allows the self-sufficiency of strategic inputs in the region,” indicated the document cited by efe.
The three countries also contemplated that Amlac serve to cover “the technological and organizational capacity gap for the development of raw materials, pharmaceutical products and health technologies that better respond to the public health needs of said nations.”
In addition, the initiative seeks to eliminate barriers to trade in raw materials for medicines and vaccines.
The directors of the respective agencies highlighted the importance, in a globalized world, of “the convergence and recognition of norms and standards in the field of health regulations.”
The next meeting between the partners will be in April in the Mexican city of Acapulco and will continue in Bogotá and Havana.
The project for the creation of Amlac was announced last January at the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) as an opportunity for clinical research, inspection of factories and laboratories, and self-sufficiency of strategic inputs.
Efe/OnCuba.
