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The president of the Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Cifar), Tito López, assured that the inventory of the sector currently has enough medicines to implement treatments against COVID-19 for about three months.
Although medicines to appease the symptoms of COVID-19 are currently covered, the exponential increase in cases in the country could harm these calculations.
The production of the pharmaceutical industry has registered a moderate growth with respect to 2019, possibly due to the conjunctural context that dictates the need for a greater quantity of medical supplies during the pandemic.
López specifies that by May, in the first five months of the year, some 52 million units of drugs of different types were produced, while in 2019 the manufacture of 39 million was registered in the same period of time.
However, despite the increase in the production and supply of drugs against the virus, the sector is not facing an unfavorable scenario. Confinement measures have led to the collapse of many pharmacies and sales have fallen substantially.
“This does not mean that the pharmaceutical industry is at an advantage. If we review, there are pharmacies that are in sectors with a very rigid quarantine, such as shopping malls, where they have not been able to operate. Elsewhere, sales have dropped 70% or 80%, ”explained López.
To resist this crisis, the pharmacist urged the Nicolás Maduro regime to defer the payment of taxes to companies and give tax incentives to the national industry, in order to promote production and avoid the impact that the closure of stores could cause. once the containment measures are lifted.
Although López did not specify which specific medications he was referring to, the country’s health authorities have developed a particular treatment scheme against the disease, which includes chloroquine phosphate, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and ritonavir, in addition to Cuban interferon alpha 2b. More recently they approved the application of plasma treatments for already cured patients.
The Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Acfiman) and the National Academy of Medicine (ANM) rejected at the time that the government maintain treatments with hydroxychloroquine and chlorine dioxide, along with homeopathic medicines, arguing that it has not been demonstrated effectiveness, but risks for some patients.
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