Mexico, Cuba, Colombia Create LATAM Medicine Agency

On Wednesday, Mexico, Cuba and Colombia signed the "Acapulco Declaration" for the creation of the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Latin America and the Caribbean (AMLAC).

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The agreement was signed by the Mexican Alejandro Svarch, director of the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS); Cuban Olga Jacobo, director of the Center for State Control of Medicines, Medical Equipment and Devices (CECMED); and the Colombian Mariela Pardo, director of the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA).

AMLAC will be a mechanism for regional integration through harmonization and convergence in health regulations, in favor of access to safe, effective and quality medicines and medical devices.

"If Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be disjointed, our region will continue to depend on trade with the great powers, which seek low-cost raw materials but sell their final goods at prices that guarantee them large profits," Svarch denounced.

AMLAC “will bring us closer to health self-sufficiency and to guarantee access to medicines and medical devices in our region,” Mexican Health Minister Jorge Alcocer stated.

“It will strengthen the mechanisms for the harmonization and recognition of regulations, to ensure that the registration of a drug or medical device approved by the agency is recognized by the rest of the countries,” CECMED director said.

“We call on all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to join this initiative, to work together for the health security of the region,” INVIMA director said, adding that the countries'  representatives will hold meetings in Bogotá in May and in Havana in June to consolidate the new regional agency.