Cuba Eyes Stronger Biotech & Healthcare Engagement with India

With rising global demand for affordable biologics, vaccines and therapeutics, Cuba sees India as a strategic partner with the scale, regulatory experience and manufacturing capacity to jointly address health needs in emerging and developing markets.

Cuba has renewed its push to strengthen economic ties with India, with biotechnology and healthcare emerging as the central pillars of engagement. The focus on health-led cooperation was outlined by Cuban Ambassador to India Juan Carlos Marsan Aguilera during a special session on India-Cuba bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

India and Cuba have shared a long-standing relationship rooted in healthcare cooperation, medical education and public health solidarity. Cuba’s health system, globally recognised for its preventive care model and biotechnology-driven innovation, has increasingly aligned with India’s strengths in pharmaceutical manufacturing and affordable medical technologies, creating a natural basis for deeper collaboration.

Addressing the gathering, Aguilera said Cuba is a pioneer in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with biopharma products exported to 45 countries. Over the decades, Cuba has built a state-supported biotech ecosystem that integrates research, clinical development and manufacturing, producing vaccines, cancer therapies, diabetes treatments and immunological products.

This integrated approach, he noted, offers opportunities for Indian companies and research institutions to collaborate across the value chain, from research and development to production and global distribution.

The emphasis on biotechnology also reflects Cuba’s focus on health innovation as a driver of economic growth. With rising global demand for affordable biologics, vaccines and therapeutics, Cuba sees India as a strategic partner with the scale, regulatory experience and manufacturing capacity to jointly address health needs in emerging and developing markets.

These steps are intended to support long-term partnerships, including joint research centres, manufacturing facilities and technology transfer arrangements in the health and life sciences sectors.

Speaking at the session, Prof Maiky Diaz Perez, First Secretary at the Embassy of Cuba in India, said enhanced collaboration could strengthen people-to-people ties between the two countries, while stressing the importance of identifying specific areas of cooperation to deliver tangible outcomes. In the context of biotech and health, this includes clearly defined projects, institutional linkages and industry-academia partnerships.

As global health systems face rising costs, workforce constraints and growing demand for innovation, Cuba’s outreach to India signals an intent to build partnerships anchored in public health impact and scientific collaboration.

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