Ian Sample

Outright success stories have been hard to come by for Cuba since the collapse of its Soviet ally, but its biotechnology industry is looking like a triumph. Driven largely by domestic need, home-grown biotech has boosted what was already an advanced healthcare system to the point where Cuba’s citizens now enjoy one of the highest life expectancies and most extensive childhood vaccination schemes in the world, and modern anti-retroviral drugs are available for all HIV/Aids patients.But where Cuba sees success, the US sees danger. According to some elements in the Bush administration, Cuba’s biotechnology efforts conceal nefarious goings-on. Excelling at what could be the most lucrative new technology for decades has apparently landed Cuba in the crosshairs of a trigger-happy administration.Few outside the US give credence to the idea that Cuban scientists are cooking up lethal broths of pathogens. Last November, a CDI team concluded the Cubans were up to nothing more than producing a vast array of vaccines, including for export.

To many observers, attempts to portray Cuban biotechnology as a new threat to US citizens mask the real motivation — to justify the trade ban in place since the 60s. Cuba’s real biotech agenda is at once more prosaic and ambitious. Having been forced to innovate its way out of the economic hardship imposed by US sanctions, Cuba has found itself equipped with world-class, home-grown biotech expertise and manufacturing facilities. According to experts who have inspected key sites in Cuba, the quality of research and products is world class.

Cuba now has more than 40 biotech institutions, clustered mostly in the fringes of Havana, employing 12,000 staff, of whom more than 7,000 are scientists. Vaccines and other medical products are exported to more than 50 countries, helping the industry achieve that rare thing — a positive cash flow. The pressure on Cuba to succeed in biotech with little outside help has produced an efficient method for turning ideas into products. Now, Cuban biotech institutes are so-called “closed loop” organisations, housing labs, manufacturing facilities and marketing departments under one roof.

Efforts in Cuba are now focused on patenting new biotech products. But securing intellectual property rights is only half the battle. To break into new markets, Cuban companies need to team up with foreign biotech firms to get their drugs through local regulatory hoops and open doors to buyers. Multinationals, which reap profits from the US market, are unlikely to risk provoking tensions with the US unless the product being peddled by the Cubans is irresistible.

Ironically, the US may find itself losing out from its determination to isolate Cuba. Castro’s state has patents on more than 20 advanced anti-cancer treatments undergoing clinical trials. Should they prove effective, they will become available everywhere except the US, and patent law will prevent the US churning out its own versions. For Cuba, the barrier to the European market can only be overcome by ensuring it produces the very best products. Only then will it be able to persuade foreign companies that the pros of teaming up outweigh the cons. — The Guardian, London