LatinNews Daily - 27 September 2023

* Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched a funding programme dubbed the Estratégia Nacional para o Desenvolvimento do Complexo Econômico-Industrial da Saúde, which will provide R$42bn (US$8.42bn) for the domestic production of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and other medical products to be used in the national health system (SUS). Funds will also be allocated for medical research projects carried out by the state-controlled pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Hemobrás and the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), a public health research institute tied to the health ministry. The programme was planned by an inter-ministerial working group created in April involving 11 ministries and government organisations, including the health ministry and the ministry of industry & commerce. Some of the funding (R$9bn) will be drawn from the federal government’s broader infrastructure investment programme launched in August, the Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento (PAC). The state-owned development bank (BNDES) will provide R$6bn and the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep), a research funding authority tied to the ministry of science, technology & innovation, will provide R$4bn. The government expects around R$23bn in investment from the private sector.