Last Thursday (30/9), a joint note from the governments of Brazil and Mozambique announced the official conclusion of the project for the installation of the Pharmaceutical Plant in Maputo, capital of the African country. The structure is the result of a technology transfer mission and partnership with the Institute of Technology in Pharmaceuticals (Farmanguinhos/Fiocruz).

The joint work made possible the implementation of the manufacturing infrastructure, the acquisition, donation, and installation of equipment, in addition to the transfer of technology for the production of pharmaceutical drugs and the training of personnel. More than 35,000 hours of training have resulted in the production of 120 million pharmaceutical units in the new facility.

"We are wrapping up this important project with the merit of having a producing plant, trained teams, and a set of transferred technologies that are now part of the initial portfolio of the Mozambican Drug Society," said Marco Krieger, Fiocruz's vice president of Production and Innovation in Health.

The vice-presidency of the Foundation coordinated the project geared towards the completion of the technology transfer and construction of the plant, which relied on Fiotec's financial, administrative, and logistical management. This same project was started in 2017, under the coordination of Farmanguinhos/Fiocruz. The unit was responsible for implementing the activities foreseen in the partnership and started its work still in 2008, with the constitution of a multidisciplinary technical team dedicated to the installation and operation of the Mozambican Medicines Society (SMM).

"This project was a huge challenge, due to the distance and the complexity of implementing a pharmaceutical industry with its peculiarities and strict and constantly evolving sanitary rules. Another challenge to be overcome was the need for qualification, constant training, and development of professionals from various backgrounds such as pharmacists and engineers, among others. From this point of view, seeing the first pharmacy students beginning to work at the plant is an enormous victory from the point of view of the project and its future sustainability," says the director of Farmanguinhos, Jorge Mendonça.

Operations to start in 2012 Almost 10 years ago the completion of the works at the manufacturing unit called Sociedade Moçambicana de Medicamentos (SMM) was celebrated. At the time, the production of drugs was aimed at fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, benefiting about 2.7 million Mozambicans.

Fiocruz was represented at the event in July 2012 by the then chairman of the Foundation, Paulo Gadelha. Besides other representatives of the institution and the Brazilian Federal Government, there was the then director of Farmanguinhos, Hayne Felipe Silva, who today holds the position of executive director of Fiotec.

With information from Fiocruz's Social Communication Coordination.