It is a true historical tragedy what has happened six years after six years to the parastatal company Laboratories of Biological and Reagents of Mexico (Birmex). At the time it had a relevant role in the production and supply of vaccines for Mexico, but it has been looted by its managers on multiple occasions; It is not seen that now things are going differently, and it is also being forced to supposedly turn it into a national distributor.
In reality, it is still taken over by a group whose interest, rather than getting it off the ground, seems to want to continue benefiting from their personal businesses.
It is seen that its current head, General Jens Pedro Lohmann Iturburu, is not very interested, since it seems that he turns a blind eye and only gives full support to his second in command, another military officer, Jorge Rojano Bustamante, as well as Luis Miguel Chong Chong, a character who without having any position does and undoes in all areas of the parastatal, in the same way as he operated in the ISSSTE, where he was like the general before coming to Birmex.
General Lohmann has changed almost all directions, but those he has sustained are coincidentally two people accused multiple times of corruption and diversions before the Ministry of Public Administration. They are Beatriz Romero Valderrama, director of the National Institute of Virology -where the Birmez production plants are located-, and José Cruz Bugarín, who serves as health manager and director of Quality at the National Institute of Hygiene. Despite the complaints against them, they report to us, both characters are immovable and, certain of their power, they intimidate and pressure the staff.
The two aforementioned institutes are, together with the Cuautitlán Izcalli plant and the Tecamac corrals, the assets that Birmex has left today, a heritage valued in 2019 at more than 1,236 million pesos, but that will be left over if the state-owned company becomes just a distributor.
Today Birmex is basically focused on the distribution of anticovid vaccines. He had to negotiate those of Astra Zéneca with the Instituro Serum of India, as well as the Chinese ones of Sinovac and the Sputnik V.
Throughout its 22 years of existence, Birmex has had countless projects with enormous potential, but sadly today almost none of them are reality. From the production of vaccines against measles, polio, canine vaccines against rabies -it even allowed us to be self-sufficient and for a while to sell to Central America- to equine serum for antidotes against snake and scorpion venom that ended up in the hands of Laboratorios Silanes, the failed project of the vaccine against dengue and the production of the vaccine against influenza. This last project had demerited due to Birmex’s lack of compliance with diversion of multimillion-dollar resources, but in the end it ended up being rescued under a new plan with the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and it seems that now the Birmex plant in Cuautitlán Izcalli will work to produce and be self-sufficient in the anti-influenza vaccine.
A more recent project was that of the anticovid serum announced by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard himself, who even said it would be taken from 60 horses donated by Sedena. What was that? In another peasant dream.
Their holders are only interested in distribution
Birmex’s vocation is that of a producer and it still has the infrastructure for that purpose, albeit with old but still functional equipment, and even still has the PAHO endorsement to manufacture, store and distribute. In fact, in 2020 its former head Pedro Zenteno -now head of ISSSTE- managed to further expand its functions with the 2020-2024 Institutional Program published in the DOF.
However, it is seen that their new directors are only interested in distribution; in particular to Chong Chong, since it is his expertise and where he has done great business inside and outside the Government. Today he says out loud that he will only be a few months to start the foundation for the national system of health supplies entrusted to him. The UAM has already designed the new structure but it is not clear when it will start. Birmex’s 470 employees have another vocation, but they want to force them to become experts in logistics, storage and distribution.
It is not seen where they will achieve it; in principle by the size of investment required. Birmex’s budget is not less – it does not reach 4,000 million pesos – but it is insufficient to set up a distributor that covers the entire Republic, as is the aspiration.
Chemists with many years in Birmex comment that there are very viable production projects. For example, the filling of quality water for injectables or the antidote project against the violinist spider; another is to make culture media for vaginal or throat swabs for national distribution to all health centers. One more is to make reagents for rapid neonatal screening tests; There is even talk that it would be feasible to reactivate the production of sera that was ceded to Bioclon. But all this is minimized by General Lohmann and the character Chong because his business is clearly in other areas.
Journalist on economics and health issues
Health and Business
Communicator specialized in public health and the health industry. She is studying a master’s degree in Health Systems Administration at FCA of UNAM.
Founder in 2004 of www.Plenilunia.com, a concept on women’s health. I am passionate about researching and reporting on health, innovation, the industry related to science, and finding the objective business approach to each topic.