Meeting with the Under Secretary of Foreign Trade

     LIF’s Board of Directors received Daniel Galaverna (Santa Fe’s Under Secretary of Foreign Trade).
     In this meeting, LIF members gave him information about the projects that LIF has been developing.
     Then, they analyzed the different possibilities to sell medicines in other countries.
     After this meeting, all the areas were shown to Daniel Galaverna.

Meeting with FTS SA

     LIF’s Board of Directors, received Fermín Varela (CEO of FTS SA) and Alejandro Varela (CFO of FTS SA).
     From The South SA (FTS) is a company located in Villa Ocampo. This organization develops technology for diabetes control.
     First, the visitors and LIF members exchanged information about both companies.
     Then, they talked about an agreement of mutual collaboration and assistance.
     After this meeting, the different areas were shown to the visitors.

Lecture about Santa Fe’s Medicines Policy in Santa Fe

On December 9th, Diego Bruno (LIF’s Director) participated at a lecture about Santa Fe’s Medicines Policy.

     The meeting took place at the Dorado room of former Hospital Italiano in Santa Fe.
     Mario Drisun (Health Minister of Santa Fe), Elvia Gómez (Director of Biochemistry and Pharmacy - Health Ministry), Hugo Oteo (Member of the Medicines Committee), Francisco Sánchez Guerra and Leonardo Martínez (Health Coordinators from Nodo Santa Fe) also participated in the lecture.
     The main objective of this activity was to present the new version of the Formulario Terapéutico Provincial (FTP)*.
     Diego Bruno talked about public production of medicines in Santa Fe as one of the tools to provide medicines.
     Pharmacists, purchasing managers and physicians from different hospitals attended the meeting.

*FTP: it is a therapeutic list of drugs to use in Santa Fe’s public health system.

Students of Nursing School from Santa Fe city visited LIF

     Along November, one hundred students of 2nd year of the Nursing School visited LIF.
     In these meetings, Claudio Casals (Production Manager) gave a lecture about “LIF’s management model” and Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager) talked about “Quality Control for medicines.
     Then, students and LIF’s staff members visited the different areas (production, quality control and storage).
     Finally, all of them shared a lunch in the multiple uses room.

Lecture about Santa Fe’s Medicines Policy in Venado Tuerto.

On November 28th, Guillermo Cleti (LIF’s Director) participated at a lecture about Santa Fe’s Medicines Policy.

     The meeting took place at the auditorium room of Hospital Gutiérrez in Venado Tuerto.
     Miguel González (Health Secretary of Santa Fe), Elvia Gómez (Director of Biochemistry and Pharmacy - Health Ministry), Silvia Tassoni (Member of the Medicines Committee), José Escalante and Armando Alianak (Health Coordinators from Nodo Venado Tuerto) also participated in the lecture.
     The main objective of this activity was to present the new version of the Formulario Terapéutico Provincial (FTP)*.
     Guillermo Cleti talked about public production of medicines in Santa Fe as one of the tools to provide medicines.
     Pharmacists, purchasing managers and physicians from different hospitals attended the meeting.

*FTP: it is a therapeutic list of drugs to use in Santa Fe's public health system.

LIF participated in the IV Provincial Seminar of Public Health

The seminar took place on November 13rd and 14th, in the Estación Belgrano in Santa Fe city.

     LIF’s board of directors: Guillermo Cleti, Diego Bruno, César Daniel Salomón and Diego Bruno attended the seminar.
     LIF had a stand where Melina Uriarte, Facundo Arques and Edgardo Ramirez (LIF’s staff members) handed out LIF’s printed material and answered questions to the visitors.
     Carlos Arques participated in a forum called “Government - Medicines - Market” in which he talked about public production of medicines in Santa Fe.
     More than 2600 people from different places of Santa Fe province participated in the lectures and workshops. Most of these people were public health workers (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, public servants and health administrators).

Students of Escuela de Enseñanza Técnica Nº 455 from Esperanza visited LIF

     A students’ delegation of Escuela de Enseñanza Técnica Nº 455 from Esperanza participated in this activity.
     First, LIF’s staf members welcomed the visitors at the multiple uses room (MUR) where they watched the institutional video.
     Then, Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager) gave a lecture about quality of medicines.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality and storage) were shown to the visitors

Meeting in the National Cancer Institute

Members of the Pilot Program had a meeting organized by National Cancer Institute (NCI)*.
     This program provides drugs for pain treatment in patients with active, progressive and advanced diseases.
     Guillermo Cleti (LIF’s Director), Cecilia Selis (LIF’s Technical Director), Patricia Peirotti (LIF’s Quality Assurance Manager) and Ana María Gonzalez (LIF’s Responsible for Drug Safety) participated in a meeting that took place at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)* in Buenos Aires city.
     Daniel Gollan (National Health Vice-Minister) welcomed the present.
     Then, María José Sanchez (ANMAT’s Inspector) gave a lecture about traceability for drugs.
     Finally, Patricia Peirotti gave a lecture about Quality Assurance while Ana María Gonzalez talked about Drug Safety for methadone.
     Pharmacists and physicians from different hospitals under the Pilot Program such as: CEMAR (Rosario), Gastroenterología B. Udaondo, General de Agudos Dr. Tornu, Instituto de Oncología Ángel Roffo, Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Alfredo Lanari and Dr. Baldomero Sommer attended this meeting.
     Daniel Gollan (National Health Vice-Minister), Federico Kaski (ANMAT Sub-Administrator), Jorge Zarzur (Executive Director of the National Program of Public Production of Medicines, Vaccines and Medical Devices), Graciela Jacob (NCI’s Advisory Committee Member) and Roberto Wenk (NCI’s Advisory Committee Member) also participated in the meeting.

*NCI: is part of the National Health Ministry.
ANMAT: Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica. (National Regulatory Agency for medicines, food and medical devices).

Members of the city hall of Córdoba and of the national Health Ministry visited LIF

     Carlos Arques, Diego Bruno, César Daniel Salomón and Guillermo Cleti (LIF’s Board of Directors) welcomed the visitors.

     Gabriel Acevedo (Córdoba’s Health Secretary), Belén Bottasso (Córdoba’s Pharmacy Director); Sergio Oviedo (Córdoba’s Pharmacy Sub Director), Jorge Zarzur (Executive Director of the National Program of Public Production of Medicines, Vaccines and Medical Devices) and Arturo Hoya (Technical Adviser of the National Health Ministry) participated in this meeting.
     They exchanged information about the different experiences in health and medicines.
     The Córdoba’s Health Secretary has a public laboratory of medicines. This produces medicines for public hospitals in Córdoba city.
     The Health Secretary wants to improve the know how and technologies in its laboratory in order to increase its production volume. The approbation of the Health Ministry of Córdoba is also another wish to reach.
     The visitors and LIF members talked about an agreement of mutual collaboration and assistance in the production of medicines.
     In the next days, LIF and the Health Secretary might sign this agreement.
     Carlos Minatti (LIF’s Trustee) and Roberto Ganín (LIF’s General Manager) also participated in the meeting.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality control and storage) were shown to the visitors.

Pharmacists from Nodo Rosario visited LIF

     On October 28th, pharmacist from Nodo Rosario visited LIF.
     First, Guillermo Cleti and Diego Bruno (LIF’s Directors) welcomed the visitors.
     Then, Claudio Casals (Production Manager) gave a lecture about “LIF’s Management Model” and then Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager) talked about “Quality of Medicines”.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality control and storage) were shown to the visitors.
     Viviana Mahieu, María Alejandra García Álvarez, Analía Bo and María Alejandra Martoglia (Pharmacy Inspection of Santa Fe - 2nd Division), Alejandra Elizalde (Technical Director - Hospital de Emergencias Clemente Álvarez), Sergio Torrisi (Technical Director - HEEP*) and Yamila García (Pharmacist HEEP*) participated in this activity.


HEEP*: Hospital Escuela Eva Perón de Baigorria

LIF started the provision of Methadone in Rosario

LIF delivered Methadone 5 mg and 10 mg tablets in five Public Hospitals in Rosario.

     These hospitals: Int. Gabriel Carrasco, Roque Saenz Peña, Juan B. Alberdi, de Niños Víctor J. Vilela and Centro de Especialidades Médicas Ambulatorias (CEMAR) are part of the Pilot Program to provide drugs for pain treatment in patients with active, progressive and advanced diseases.
     This Pilot Program was organized by the National Institute of Cancer (Health Ministry of the National Government).
     This program’s main objective is to provide medicines in different hospitals where people under pain therapy receive attention.
     In 2013, LIF and the National Institute signed an agreement of Collaboration and Mutual Assistance.
     Through this agreement LIF has researched and developed morphine 10 mg, methadone 5mg and 10 mg tablets to provide them in ten hospitals.
     After this first experience in Rosario, the next step to LIF is to deliver these drugs in other hospitals under the Pilot Program such as: Gastroenterología B. Udaondo, General de Agudos Dr. Tornu, Instituto de Oncología Ángel Roffo, Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Alfredo Lanari and Dr. Baldomero Sommer.

LIF participated in a French and Argentine Mission

LIF’s Directors, Santa Fe’s Town Hall civil servants, private business owners and UNL’s scientists participated in the Mission. It took place in Poitiers and París. There was a meeting at Argentina’s Embassy.

     The Mission took place from October 6th to 10th in Poitiers and París (France).
     César Daniel Salomón and Diego Bruno (LIF’s Directors) attended the French and Argentine Mission of Collaboration and Assistance in Biotechnology. They had a schedule of meeting with researchers from Poitiers University and members of different biotechnology companies.
     On October 6th, Mission’s members had a meeting at Argentina’s Embassy in France.
     María del Carmen Squeff (Argentina’s Ambassador in France) received the visitors. After the meeting, all of them shared a lunch.
     Carlos Pereira, (Government Secretary of Santa Fe city); Simón González, (Foreign Trade Agency of Santa Fe city); Javier Lotterberger, (Dean of FByCSB*); Daniel Scacchi (CETRI - LITORAL** Director); Verónica Godoy (CETRI-LITORAL Member); Marcelo Murguía, (Researcher of FByCSB*); Hugo Ortega, [Member of CCM(2) - UNL]; Juan Manuel Peralta (Lipomize S.R.L) and Guillermina Forno (Zelltek S.A.) also attended in the Mission.
     Finally on October 10th, Mission’s members had a meeting with Alain Claeyes (Poitiers’ Mayor); Yves Jean (Dean of Poitiers University); Mustapha Belgsir (Grand Poitiers’ President) and María del Carmen Squeff (Argentina’s Ambassador in France).


(*) FByCSB - UNL: Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas de la UNL.
(**) CETRI – LITORAL: Centro para la Transferencia de los Resultados de la Investigación.
(1) UNL: Universidad Nacional del Litoral - National Univrsity of Litoral.
(2) CCM: Center for Comparative Medicine of UNL.

Students of Chemical Engineering College of UNL visited LIF

     A students’ delegation of Chemical, Industrial and Computer Engineering participated in this activity.
     First, Roberto Ganin (LIF’s General Manager) welcomed the visitors at the multiple uses room (MUR) where they watched the institutional video.
     Then, Claudio Casals (LIF’s Production Manager) gave a lecture about management and Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager) talked about quality of medicines.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality and storage) were shown to the visitors.



Finally, all of them shared a lunch in the MUR.

LIF participated in the XI Interdisciplinary Lecture on Economic Sciences

     César Daniel Salomón (LIF’s Director) and Germán Humoller (LIF’s Responsible Business Area) participated in this activity.
     The lecture took place on September 23rd and 24th at the Auditorium of Economic College of UNL*.
     It was organized by the Student Union and CEMUPRO (1).
     LIF’s members talked about: “The experience of a state company in a dynamic economy”.

*UNL: Universidad Nacional del Litoral - National University of the Litoral.
1) CEMUPRO: Centro de Estudios Municipales y Provinciales.

Meeting with the Governor Antonio Bonfatti

     LIF’s Board of Directors had a meeting with Santa Fe’s Governor, Dr. Antonio Bonfatti.
     The meeting took place in the Government House in Santa Fe.
     Dr. Mario Drisun (Health Minister and LIF’s Chairman); Carlos Fernández (Finance Secretary), Carlos Arques, César Salomón, Diego Bruno andGuillermo Cleti (LIF´s Board of Directors), Carlos Minatti (LIF’s Trustee) and Roberto Ganin (LIF’s General Manager) participated in the activity.
     First, topics about public production of medicines were treated. Then, all the present analysed different financial tools to build the new LIF’s Production Site. This project is an old wish for LIF’s members.
     At the beginning, this includes the building of two production areas, a storage area, an administration area and a dressing room.
     The new laboratory will be built in a land located in Santo Tome city near the Santa Fe - Rosario highway.

Pharmacists from Rosario Region and staff members of the Hospital de Cañada de Gomez visited LIF

     On September 24th, pharmacists from different hospitals of Rosario Region and staff members of the Hospital de Cañada de Gomez visited LIF.
     Emiliano Arzuaga (Administration Secretary - Health Ministry of Santa Fe) was also present in this meeting.
     First, LIF’s Board of Directors welcomed the visitors at the multiple use room where they watched the LIF’s institutional video.
     Then, Claudio Casals (Production Manager) gave a lecture about “LIF’s Management Model” and then Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager) talked about “Quality of Medicines”.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality control and storage) were shown to the visitors.
     Silvina Mugni, Mariano Rafaghelli (Technical Area), Rosana Mandrile (Co Technical Director) and Leandro Degreff (Storage Manager) led this activity.

Finally, all of them shared a lunch where they exchanged their different work experiences in health.

LIF participated in the 6th Provincial Lecture of Nursing

     Nurses from across Santa Fe province attended the 6th Provincial Lecture in which the main topic was “Mental Health”.
     The lecture was organized by UPCN* and took place on September 9th, 10th and 11th at the UPCN’s country club.
     Miguel Gonzalez (Health Secretary), Melisa Pianetti (Mental Health Director of Santa Fe), César Colliard (Health Responsible of UPCN) and Mercedes Landaia (Nursing Chief of Santa Fe) opened the lecture and welcomed the attendees.
     Diego Bruno (LIF Director) and Carlos Minatti (LIF Trustee) attended the inaugural meeting.
     LIF was present with a stand where LIF’s staff members gave information about public production of medicines and answered questions to the visitors.

UPCN* (Unión Personal Civil de la Nación): it is the labor union for provincial employees.

The Health Secretary of Santa Fe city visited LIF

     Lic. María Natalia Zehnder (Health Secretary of Santa Fe city) together with Dra. Belén Moras and Lic. Ricardo Rojas (cabinet members) visited LIF.
     Diego Bruno, Guillermo Cleti and Daniel Salomón (LIF’s Directors) welcomed the visitors and had a meeting.
     Health Promotion and Prevention of diseases in the different life cycles of the population were some items explained by Natalia Zehnder during the meeting.
     LIF’s Directors gave information about the different ongoing projects such as production of biosimilar medicines, morphine and methadone production to use in the treatment of cancer pain, and research and development of medicines for patients with tuberculosis disease.
     Carlos Minatti, (LIF’s Trustee), Roberto Ganin (General Manager) and Sebastián Reimondo (responsible for Validation Area of Analytic Techniques at LIF) also participated in the meeting.
     After the meeting, all of them visited the different areas.

Lecture at the UBA Law School

     Guillermo Cleti and Daniel Salomón (LIF’s Directors) participated in the lecture “Medication as social good” being organized by Observatorio de Salud and el Seminario de Investigaciones en Derecho y Salud del Instituto Gioja.
     The lecture took place in the UBA* Law School in Buenos Aires city.
     Lic. Marta Spinetto (Director of risk control and management - INAME - ANMAT), Dr. Juan Carlos Fernández (Director of Evaluation and Register of Medicines - INAME - ANMAT) and Dr. Jorge Rachid (Laboratorio de las Fuerzas Armadas’ Director) also participated in the lecture.
     Cleti and Salomón talked about the public production of medicines in the national context (PPM), current legislation, PPM’s main objectives, production costs; price fixing and management of a public company.
     Diego Bruno (LIF’s Director) also attended the lecture.

The Health Minister Drisun visited Zelltek SA

     Dr. Mario Drisun (Health Minister of Santa Fe and Chairman of LIF’s Executive Committee) together with Dr. Javier Lottersberg (Dean of Biochemistry and Biological Sciences School - UNL), visited Zelltek SA.
     Rogelio Pujol (Sales Manager) and Rubén Zurbriggen (Institutional Relations) by Zelltek welcomed the visitors.
     Miguel González (Health Secretary), Elvia Gómez (Director of Biochemistry and Pharmacy - Health Ministry), Guillermo Cleti (LIF’s Director) and Carlos Arques (LIF’s Director) also participated in the meeting.
     Zelltek SA produces active biopharmaceutical ingredients in a production site located at the Parque Tecnológico Litoral Centro (Santa Fe).
     In August 2013, LIF and Zelltek signed an agreement of “Mutual collaboration and assistance”.
     Due to this agreement, LIF will be able to provide biogenerics such as Erythropoietin, Interferon and Filgrastim. And, in this way, add a new products line in its portfolio, which so far only includes medicines for primary healthcare.

Meeting of Public Laboratories at the National Health Ministry

     The activity took place at the “Minister Oñativia Room” where different public laboratories of medicines from all the country, attended.
     Carlos Arques, Diego Bruno and Guillermo Cleti, (LIF’s Directors) have participated in a meeting at the National Health Ministry (NHM).
     The activity took place at the “Minister Oñativia Room” where different public laboratories of medicines from all the country, attended.
     Dr. Daniel Gollan (Community Health Secretary - NHM) led the meeting.
     Dr. Jorge Zarzur (Executive Director of the National Program of State Production of Medicines, Vaccines and Medical Devices) also participated.
     The attendees analyzed the current production capacity of all the public laboratories and evaluated different financing tools to improve the production volumes of each laboratory.
     Finally, they talked about the specialization of each of the laboratories which is expected to be more efficient in the future.

     Members of Laboratorios Puntanos (San Luis); Laboratorio de Hemoderivados (UNC - Córdoba); Laboratorio de Especialidades Medicinales (LEM de Rosario); Productora Zonal de Medicamentos (Prozome - Río Negro); Laformed (Formosa); LEMIS (Misiones); Instituto Biológico Tomás Perón (La Plata); Lapromed (Mendoza) and Laboratorio del Chaco were presents in this meeting.

Meeting at India's Embassy

     

     Guillermo Cleti, LIF’s Director, had a meeting at India’s Embassy in Argentina.
     Amarendra Khatua (India’s Ambassador); Sudhanshu Pandey (Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce - Ministry of Commerce & Industry), P.V. Appaji (Pharmexcil’s General Director)* and Juan Müller (LEM’s Director)** participated in the meeting which took place at India’s Embassy in Buenos Aires.

     Guillermo Cleti gave information about the different API’s that LIF uses to produce medicines. A lot of them are produced by Indian laboratories.
     “We would like to import some API’s directly from India. Today LIF buys these raw materials in the local market. We want to improve our production costs”, said Guillermo Cleti.
     Also, Guillermo Cleti talked about the project for research, development and production of medicines for patients with tuberculosis diseases.
     “Indian laboratories make a lot of these raw materials. In the future, LIF is going to use a lot of them. This contact with Indian laboratories will be very useful when we need to develop our formulas”, said Cleti.
     P.V. Appagy and Sudhanshu Pandey asked Cleti about the LIF’s production of Orphan drugs. He gave information about: the production of ephedrine tablets for only one child with Myasthenia gravis and Hypertonic Saline to use in patients with Cystic Fibrosis.
     Production of biogenerics was another topic in the agenda.

Link with India.
     On February, 2014, Guillermo Cleti travelled to India as one of the members of the Santa Fe Government’s Mission.He had a schedule of meetings with different Indian companies, mainly medicines manufactures and APIs manufacturers.


*Pharmexcil: Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India.
API’s: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient.
**LEM SE: Laboratorio de Especialidades Medicinales, Sociedad del Estado. It is the Rosario’s city hall public laboratory.

Lecture at Lawyers’ College in Rosario

     

     Guillermo Cleti, LIF’s Director, participated in a lecture about medicines in Rosario.
     The meeting took place at the Lawyers’ College headquarters on August 1st.
     The main topics were: Patient rights to access to medicines; Patient safety against illegitimate medicines; drugs coverage and Public production of medicines.
     Firstly, Guillermo Cleti gave information about the public production of medicines in Argentina and Santa Fe province. Then, he talked about LIF’s history, legal framework and production of orphan drugs.
     Dra. Viviana Denk, Dr. Raúl Andrés Lassizuk, Dr. Carina Mazzeo and Dr. Julia Canet were other participants in the meeting.
     The activity was organized by Instituto de Derecho de la Salud y Bioética.

Research and Development of anti tuberculosis medicines

     Dr. Mario Drisun (Health Minister of Santa Fe Province and LIF’s Chairman) participated in a press conference where LIF and UNL presented the project “Research and Development of anti tuberculosis medicines”.
     Dr. Albor Cantar (UNL’s Rector) and Eng. Carlos Arques (LIF’s Directors) also participated in the conference together with Dr. Drisun.
     The meeting took place at LIF’s headquarters where different UNL’s authorities, project’s members; LIF’s Directors and Managers, journalists and other health’s authorities were present.
     Through this project LIF and UNL* are going to research and develop four medicines for the treatment of tuberculosis:
-Rifampicin + Isoniazid + Pyrazinamide (triple association).
- Ethambutol.
- Rifampin + Isoniazid (double association).
- Isoniazid.
     “The meeting between LIF and UNL is an excellent strategy and an authentic example of state policy”, says Mario Drisun.
     “We want to produce these medicines in three years. In this way, we are going to achieve a solution for the National Government and mainly for all the patients in Argentina”, says Carlos Arques.

The Project
     The project is going to have a final investment of $39.000.000.
     BID(1) is going to support/finance $23.000.000 while LIF-UNL Consortium(2) is going to finance $16.000.000.
     LUC (2) is going to build a new development, quality control and production areas at LIF.

Tuberculosis today in Argentina
      Every year between 800 and 1000 people die from tuberculosis in Argentina.
     It is the second cause of death by infectious diseases and it has a high impact in vulnerable groups of the population.
     Many death are because people don’t respect the treatment. Many patients start the treatment but then they don’t finish it (10 - 20% in Argentina).

(*) UNL: Universidad Nacional del Litoral
(1) BID: IDB, Interamerican Development Bank.
(2) LIF- UNL Consortium (LUC) is an associative consortium between two public institutions through which the public production of medicines (LIF) take the knowledge from the national technological scientific system (UNL).

LIF's Board of Directors received Senator Miguel Lifschitz

     On June, 12th, Engineer. Miguel Lifschitz* (Rosario’s Provincial Senator) visited LIF.
     LIF’s Board of Directors welcomed the provincial legislator and then they had a meeting in which they gave information about the different activities and projects that LIF has been developing for Santa Fe province and for National Government.
     Mariano Cuvertino (Social Economy Director of Santa Fe Municipality) was another visitor that participated in the meeting together with Miguel Lifschitz.
     Carlos Arques, Guillermo Cleti, Diego Bruno and César Daniel Salomón (LIF’s Board of Directors), Carlos Minatti (Trustee) and Roberto Ganín (General Manager) participated by LIF.
     After the meeting, all of them visited the different areas.

*Engineer Miguel Lifschitz: former Mayor of Rosario city. Nowadays he is Provincial Senator by Rosario Department.

Lecture about Public Health for General Practitioners.

The lecture took place on May, 23rd in Nodo Reconquista headquarters.

Daniel Salomón (LIF’s Director) gave a lecture about the management model of public production of medicines that LIF has made in Santa Fe Province for more than sixty years.

The main objectives of these activities are to give information to GPs* about the correct use of medicines, their public production, costs and safety update reports.

Other important people who attended this meeting were Elvia Gómez (Director of Biochemistry and Pharmacy - Santa Fe’s Health Ministry) and Laura Bugna (Safety Update Reports Coordinator - Santa Fe’s Health Ministry).

*GPs: General Practitioners.

50th Anniversary of the Laboratorio Hemoderivados

     On May, 21st, 2014 LIF’s Directors Diego Bruno and Guillermo Cleti attended the act and reception to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Laboratorio de Hemoderivados de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (LH UNC)*.
     The meeting took place at the LH UNC’s headquarters in Córdoba where authorities from different governments (National, Córdoba Province and Municipality) were present as well as other public and private laboratories’ directors, universities’ deans and all LH UNC’s staff members.
     LIF’s Directors gave a commemorative plaque to Magister Catalina Massa (LH UNC’s Executive Director) as souvenir.
     In the same act, LH UNC’s authorities inaugurated a new area for the development of new formulas.

(*) LH UNC: Laboratorio de Hemoderivados de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba is the laboratory of the National University of Córdoba, which is specialized in blood medicines production.

LIF's Board of Directors received the Río Negro Health's Minister

     LIF’s Board of Directors, Carlos Arques, Diego Bruno, Daniel Salomón and Guillermo Cleti, received the Río Negro Health’s Minister, Dr. Norberto Delfino.

     José Priegue (UFI’s General Coordinator of the National Health Ministry), Mauricio Monsalvo (General Coordinator of REMEDIAR Program), Carlos Minatti (LIF’s Trustee) and Roberto Ganin (General Manager) also participated in the meeting. All of them exchanged their different work experiences in health.
     LIF’s Boards of Directors gave information about the progress of the medicines production for REMEDIAR Program and they offered Dr. Delfino all the support to help the PROZOME* Lab to reach the National approval by ANMAT**.
     “In 2010, LIF and PROZOME signed an agreement of mutual collaboration and assistance through which both institutions can work together in joint projects” said Diego Bruno.
     After the meeting, all of them visited the different areas such as quality control, storage and production.

*PROZOME: Laboratorio Productor de Medicamentos de la Provincia de Río Negro. (Manufacturer Laboratory of Medicines of Río Negro province). It is a state-run laboratory manufacturing pharmaceutical products.
(**) ANMAT: Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica. (National Regulatory Agency for medicines, food and medical devices).

Meeting with the Health's Minister Mario Drisun

     LIF’s Board of Directors has had a meeting with Santa Fe Health’s Minister Dr. Mario Drisun.
     The meeting took place at LIF where Dr. Drisun was given information about different LIF’s projects like producing medicines for patients with tuberculosis, and morphine and metadona for the Instituto Nacional de Cáncer. As well as the building of a new administration area.
     Emiliano Arzuaga (Health Ministry’s Administration Secretary) and Juan Pablo Gutierrez (Health Ministry’s Human Resources Secretary) also attended the meeting.

     Then, all of them participated in a term meeting with the LIF’s staff members where Dr. Drisun gave a lecture about Santa Fe’s Public Health System and highlighted the great relevance of the public production of medicines.

Lecture about medicines in Rosario

     Carlos Arques (LIF’s Director) participated in a lecture called “The problems of medicines and the health management in Argentina”.

     This activity took place on May 9th at the Jorge Sábato room in DEFANTE & CÍA. S.A (Rosario).
     This meeting was organized by Consejo Consultivo para el Crecimiento de Santa Fe, Grupo Delta and Capacita Salud.
     These lectures are free for all the population and have as their main objective to present different problems of the health sector in Argentina.
     Dr. Juan José D'Aloisio (LEM* President), CPN Fernanda Pesado (LEM’s Vice President) and Dr. Ernesto Báscolo (Director de la Maestría de Gestión en Sistemas y Servicios de Salud - Universidad Nacional de Rosario) also participated in this lecture.

 *LEM SE: Laboratorio de Especialidades Medicinales, Sociedad del Estado. It is the Rosario’s city hall public laboratory.

LIF-UNL Consortium meeting

Members of LIF-UNL(1) Consortium (LUC) had a meeting which took place at the LIF’s multiple use room (MUR).

     LIF- UNL Consortium is an associative consortium between two public institutions through which the public production of medicines (LIF) take the knowledge from the national technological scientific system (UNL).

     The people present shared a breakfast meeting in which Carlos Arques (LIF’s Director) and Daniel Scacchi (CETRI - LITORAL* Director) gave a lecture about the main objectives of the consortium and the next actions to follow in relation with the FONARSEC Project.
     LUC presented a project at the MINCyT(1) to get a FONARSEC (2) for the research, development and production of medicines.
     FONARSEC is a financial instrument through which LIF might be able to get funds to improve its capacity of production.
     The main objective is firstly, to develop know how and finally, to produce medicines to be used in patients with tuberculosis.
     Thus, LIF will be able to produce four different medicines such as:

- Rifampicin + Isoniazid + Pyrazinamide (triple association).
- Ethambutol.
- Rifampin + Isoniazid (double association).
- Isoniazid.

     LIF’s Boards of Directors and Managers participated in this activity as well as Authorities and Staff Members of FIQ - UNL(4) and FByCSB - UNL(5).

     After the meeting, the different areas (production, quality control and storage) were shown to the visitors. And then, all of the participants shared / had a lunch at the MUR.


(*) CETRI – LITORAL: Centro para la Transferencia de los Resultados de la Investigación
(1) UNL: Universidad Nacional del Litoral
(2) MINCyT: Ministerio de Innovación, Ciencia y Tecnología.
(3) FONARSEC: Fondo Argentino Sectorial.
(4) FIQ - UNL: Facultad de Ingeniería Química – Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
(5) FByCSB - UNL: Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas de la UNL.

Health's staff members from Reconquista Region visited LIF

Staff members of different public hospitals from Reconquista, Vera, Las Toscas, Calchaquí, Romang and Villa Ocampo visited LIF.

     First, LIF’s staff members welcomed to the visitors at the multiple use room (MUR) where they watched the LIF’s institutional video.
     Then, Claudio Casals (Production Manager) gave a lecture about “LIF’s Management Model” and then Oscar Prendes (Academic Relationship Manager) talked about “Safety and Quality of Medicines”.
     After this meeting, the different areas (production, quality control and storage) were shown to the visitors.
     Oscar Prendes, Silvina Mugni (Quality Control Manager), Claudio Casals, Rosana Mandrile (Co Technical Director) and Leandro Degreff (Storage Manager) led this activity.
     Finally, all of them shared a lunch where they exchanged their different work experiences in health.

More public production for the National Government

     Public laboratories of medicines had a meeting in Santa Fe city where they discuss over the next provision for the National Health Ministry.
     The public laboratories present at this meeting were those that often provide medicines to the REMEDIAR Program.
     Gerardo Poggioli and Anibal Monbiela from the Instituto Biológico (La Plata), Teresa Nigra, Miguel Demalde and Sergio Tobares from the Laboratorios Puntanos (San Luis); Daniel Salomón, Roberto Ganin, Carlos Arques, Carlos Minatti, Diego Bruno and Guillermo Cleti from LIF (Santa Fe) attended the meeting.
     They worked with the proposal of medicines for the National Health Ministry. That production of medicines will be provided in the second half of 2014.
     Different medicines for treatment of chronic diseases as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.are going to be produced
     Also, antibiotics, medicines for treatment of parasites and analgesics are going to be provided by the above mentioned entities.


REMEDIAR Program is a national program that provides medicines to almost 7000 CAPS (Primary Health Centres) of Argentina.

Meeting at National Health Ministry

     LIF’s Board Directors Guillermo Cleti and Daniel Salomón had a meeting with Mauricio Monsalvo (REMEDIAR Program’s General Coordinator), Jorge Zarzur (Executive Director of the National Program of State Production of Medicines, Vaccines and Medical Devices) and Maximiliano Derecho (Legal Advisor - National Program for the Control of Drugs and Medical Devices Market - ANMAT).
     The meeting took place at the National Health Ministry in Buenos Aires where they talked about the next LIF’s production of medicines for the second half of the 2014.
     Since December 2013, LIF has produced different medicines for the treatment of chronic diseases as diabetes (Glibenclamide and Metformin), hypertension (Enalapril) and High Cholesterol (Simvastatin).
     Antibiotics (Amoxicillin and Cefalexin) and Analgesics (Paracetamol) are.more medicines that are going to be produced by LIF.
     The National Health Ministry wants to continue with the provision of these medicines in more than 7000 CAPS throughout the country.


     REMEDIAR Program is a national program that provides medicines to almost 7000 CAPS (Primary Health Centres) of Argentina.
     ANMAT: Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica. (National Regulatory Agency for medicines, food and medical devices).
     CAPS (Primary Health Centres)

Meeting at PROZOME in Río Negro

     Diego Bruno (LIF’s Director) and Roberto Ganin (LIF’s General Manager) travelled to Río Negro province where they visited the Laboratorio Productor de Medicamentos (PROZOME). 

     Marne Livigni (PROZOME’s Director), Viviana Erripa (Technical Director) and Romina Martínez (Technical Area) welcomed the LIF’s members and then they had a meeting in which they exchanged information about the public production of medicines.
     As a result from this meeting, both laboratories will renew the Agreement of Mutual Cooperation signed in 2010.
     Today, PROZOME doesn’t have the national approval by ANMAT*. Therefore, LIF will collaborate with PROZOME through advice and with associated work.
     After the meeting Bruno and Ganin visited the different areas as quality control, storage and production.

PROZOME: Laboratorio Productor de Medicamentos de la Provincia de Río Negro. (Manufacturer Laboratory of Medicines of Río Negro province). It is a state-run laboratory manufacturing pharmaceutical products.
(*) ANMAT: Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica. (National Regulatory Agency for medicines, food and medical devices).

About Public Production of Medicines
     After the visit to PROZOME, Diego Bruno and Roberto Ganin had a meeting with Luciano Ruiz (Coordinator Secretary of Río Negro’s Health Ministry), Pedro Pesatti (Río Negro’s Legislator), Luis Bartorelli (Río Negro’s Legislator) and Gabriel Navarro (Secretary) in which LIF’s members gave a short lecture about public production of medicines and the LIF’s history, present and future.
     Finally, all of them shared a coffee and exchanged their experiences.

LIF Participated in BioAsia 2014

     LIF participated in BioAsia 2014, The Global Bio Business Forum where Santa Fe’s province had a stand.

     The Forum took place on February 17th, 18th and 19th, in Hyderabad, India,
     Santa Fe’s Governor, Antonio Bonfatti headed the Mission in which other civil servants, private business owners, scientists, legislators and journalists participated.
     LIF’s Director Guillermo Cleti also attended BioAsia as one of the members of the Santa Fe Government’s Mission. He had a schedule of meetings with different Indian companies, mainly medicines and APIs manufacturers.

B2B meetings in New Delhi
     After BioAsia Forum, Guillermo Cleti participated in different meetings in New Delhi with other Indian manufacturers.
     These meetings took place in the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) headquarters and in the Sheraton Hotel on February 21st and 22nd.

LIF started medicine provision to the National Government

     LIF delivered 1.300.000 tablets of Metformin 500 mg (Antidiabetic); 3.400.000 tablets of Enalapril 10 mg (Antihypertensive) and 1.300.000 tablets of Simvastatin 20 mg (Hypolipidemic).
     That was the first provision of almost 30.000.000 tablets required by The National Health Ministry through REMEDIAR Program.
     Amoxicillin 500 mg, Cefalexin 500 mg, Paracetamol 500 mg y Glibenclamide 5 mg are other medicines that LIF is going to provide for the next six months.
     Glibenclamide is going to be produce by LIF together with Instituto Biológico de La Plata (another public laboratory of Buenos Aires province).

Simvastatin LIF
     Since 2002, REMEDIAR Program has delivered medicines in more than 7000 healthcare centers in Argentina.
     This year REMEDIAR Program added Simvastatin 20 mg to its vademecum.

International Women’s day at LIF

     LIF’s women staff members participated in the celebration of International Women’s day.
     The meeting took place at the LIF’s multiple purpose room where LIF’s Board of Directors gave flowers to all the women present.
     “I would like to recognize and to highlight the important role of women in society and mainly at LIF”, say LIF’s Director Diego Bruno.
     Finally, all the present shared a lunch.

LIF presented a project at the MINCyT to get a FONARSEC

     LIF presented a project at the MINCyT(1) to get a FONARSEC (2) for the research, development and production of medicines.

     FONARSEC is a financial instrument through which LIF might be able to get funds to improve its capacity of production.

     LIF and UNL(3) have signed a public consortium in which  both institutions will work in this project together.

     The main objective is firstly, to develop know how and finally, the production of medicines used in patients with tuberculosis.

     Thus, LIF will be able to produce four different medicines as:

- Rifampicin + Isoniazid + Pyrazinamide (triple association).
- Ethambutol.
- Rifampin + Isoniazid (double association).
- Isoniazid.

     LIF is going to build a new area for research and development where new equipment and machines will be incorporated.

     In this project, LIF is going to work during 36 months with other areas of the UNL like: Laboratorio de Control de Calidad de la Fac. de Bioquímica y Cs. Biológicas; Instituto de Tecnología Celulósica and Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial de la Facultad de Ingeniería Química. 

     Once this objective is reached, LIF will be able to provide these medicines to the National Government, who has had problems in buying them in the pharmaceutical market.

(1)MINCyT: Ministerio de Innovación, Ciencia y Tecnología.

(2)FONARSEC: Fondo Argentino Sectorial.

(3)UNL: Universidad Nacional del Litoral