Brazil's Fiocruz to produce vaccines for export

Brazil’s Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, has announced a dual rubella/measles vaccine production partnership exclusively for export. The project includes the construction of a manufacturing plant and a laboratory in Santa Cruz (Rio de Janeiro) with government investments of 1.6 billion real ($732.8 million), reports Juliane Carvalho of Brazil Pharma News.

"The new manufacturing plant will generate employment, income, knowledge, research and technological innovation here at home. Moreover, it will require higher quality of domestic production which will make the vaccines and other medicines produced by Fiocruz [The Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation] of even greater quality," said Dr Padilla.

30 million doses of the vaccine should be exported starting in 2017 to Africa and other countries at the lower world price of $0.54 per dose. The announcement was made at the 9th Grand Challenges Meeting, which brought together researchers from around the world at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro to discuss innovative solutions and health impacts.