In a March 2020 talk to the National Network on Cuba, University of Glasgow lecturer Dr. Helen Yaffe stated that Cuba initiated biotechnology five years before the first capitalist biotech company was established. Dr. Yaffe explained that Cuban biotech was nonprofit — based on collaboration, not competition — and is tied to their education system.

“Cuba bet on biotechnology very early, opening the first research manufacturing facility in the country in 1981,” said Agustín Lage, founder and former director of BioCubaFarma’s Center of Molecular Immunology. “Those early steps set the stage for the sector’s current performance in Cuba — supplying over 60% of the country’s essential medicines list, exporting to more than 40 countries, registering innovative products, showing tangible impact in public health and owning more than 2,000 patent filings worldwide.”