In the year 2020, BioCubaFarma Pharmaceutical and Biotechnological Business Group has strengthen its working ties with universities countrywide. The organization has signed or renewed cooperation agreements that seek to boost the joint development of research projects and to promote the closest cooperation in the search for results that benefit economy and society.
About the current state and the future prospects of this alliance, Granma newspapers spoke with Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, Doctor of Science, and BioCubaFarma’s head of Science and Innovation.
“Although the pandemic of COVID-19 has made us postponed the expansion of this cooperation network, we managed to extend these links to other higher education centers.”
– Why upgrading the scope and management of the cooperation with universities?
–There is a long-standing tradition of exchange with universities and institutions that are part of the biotechnological, pharmaceutical and medical technology industry today. This tradition focuses, namely, in education, both under and postgraduate, with a high impact on the human capital of the industry.
“Of course, postgraduate education has an important research component, which translates in the thesis to obtain a Master and PhD degrees, and in scientific publications. A group of companies under BioCubaFarma are Teaching Units from different universities, and our researchers and technologists also contribute to teaching in the universities.”
“The results described somehow reflect the role of universities in their condition as higher education centers, since they include scientific activity as part of their social mission and contribute to the creation of new knowledge.”
“However, there is a transition taking place in the 21st century and it is the engagement of universities in the innovation process, with the project incubators, the offices of intellectual property and the technological and scientific park, to name a few.”
“BioCubaFarma has adjusted to this new context by designing and building a model of management of joint projects together with the universities. “
–What are the basis of the model of management of innovation between BioCubaFarma and the universities?
–It is based on two principles. The first one is the innovation system, arranged according to the demand of knowledge by the industry rather than on the offer of knowledge by the academy.
“In practical terms, the projects are designed as a full cycle, in other words, in a way they can generate assets, both intangible (patents) and tangible (products) that can be capitalized. For example, in the case of drugs, the process is designed from the obtaining of a new molecule, for which a patent can be registered (intellectual property), until its registration as drug
“The second basic principle is the articulation of the value-generating cycle of the product with its cycle of value-capturing. The negotiation of tangible assets allow having income before the product is commercialized, which allow to create a funds flow that makes the process of development-research sustainable.”
“The university-enterprise alliance must be a vehicle to generate income to the university, both in hard currency that contributes to the growth of scientific activity, and in national currency, that allows paying professors and students for their contribution to the projects.”
“Since 2016, we have been working with the University of Havana (UH) in new ways to manage the joint innovation projects.”
“It has given birth to the figure of the BioCubaFarma-UH joint Laboratory, which has been opened in some of our enterprises with the participation of several faculties. Yesterday, for example, we opened a laboratory of chemical synthesis in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UH.
“These BioCubaFarma-UH joint laboratories were created based on a portfolio of projects oriented towards innovation. They are managed jointly and are a vehicle for the implementation of the recently approved normative that establishes the relations between universities and enterprises.”
–What are some of the contributions of the cooperation program with the universities to the innovation field that can be shown today?
–I could mention, for example, the introduction and expansion of the use of the Xavia/Sidec operative system, developed by the University of Computer Sciences (UCI for Spanish), to handle the data of the clinical trials with products under research by the BioCubaFarma enterprises. Also, the creation of a national network of Computing of High Performance developed by the Enterprise for Information Technologies (ETI), the Marta Abreu Central University of Las Villas and the University of Oriente.
“We would also like to highlight the development of a formulation, currently subject to patent application, together with the UH, for the vaccine to treat lung cancer (CIMAVax), which is part of the portfolio of products of the Joint Venture between the Center of Molecular Engineering and the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center from New York. And the creation of a new formulation, subject to patent application, and created together with the UH, of a conjugated vaccine to treat the SARS-COV-2 virus (Soberana 2). This vaccine must start the clinical trials once it is approved by the Center for the State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices.”
–What are the main challenges for BioCubaFarma in the management of innovation together with the universities?
–The model of management needs to establish the indicators of the process and impact, in addition to implementing the contract among the BioCubaFarma enterprises and the different organizations with capacity to operate financially suggested by the universities.
“One of the top priorities is the search for external funds, both through international cooperation and through the negotiation of intangible assets, as well as the training of human capital to guarantee the sustainability of the model. The main challenge we face is the need to innovate, to be creative and to work with discipline all the time, that’s our daily battle.”
Translated by ESTI
