Brazil to resume human insulin production, with a $200+ investment

The resumption of national human insulin production was announced in Brazil this week, at an event in Belo Horizonte attended by the country’s President, Dilma Rousseff. Over the next five years, 430 million real ($218 million) is expected to be invested, including funds from the Ministry of Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and funding from the National Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES).

"We celebrate the organization of State demands which has provided the right circumstances for a company to be established in Brazil in an area at the cutting edge of technology, such as biotechnology. (...) I see a very favorable environment for the establishment of the Biomm [company]. (...) We are sure today that we will put insulin in every drugstore in Brazil and that we will be able to change the history of the country," said Pres Rousseff.

Brazilian company Biomm Technology will be responsible for production and may begin manufacturing as of 2014. Brazil stopped insulin production in 2001, and the resumption reduces the country's vulnerability to international crises in the supply of the product. Currently, there are 10 million diabetics in Brazil and 1.1 million receive the drug through the Unified Health System, according to a government statement.