- Статьи
- World
- Help is coming soon: Venezuela starts producing insulin using Russian technology in 2026.
Help is coming soon: Venezuela starts producing insulin using Russian technology in 2026.
In 2026, Venezuela will produce the first batch of insulin using Russian technology, Izvestia found out. According to the plan, the company will produce more than 3 million vials annually, which will allow the country to cope with the shortage of the drug. The Russian company GEROPHARM supplied the necessary equipment to Caracas, carried out repairs at the site, and trained specialists. In addition, Moscow plans to supply 500,000 packages of insulin and syringe pens to Venezuela by the end of the year. The Russian Federation is an important supplier of diabetes drugs to the Bolivarian Republic. Our countries are linked by strategic partnership relations — the relevant agreement was signed in May 2025, and on September 18, the Venezuelan parliament approved the document in the first reading.
Russia and Venezuela strengthen cooperation in pharmaceutical sector
The result of three years of cooperation between Russia and Venezuela in the field of insulin production will be the launch of its own production of the drug in the Latin American country. The first batch of medicines using Russian technology will be manufactured in Venezuela as early as 2026, the Russian Embassy in Caracas told Izvestia.
— GEROPHARM has purchased and supplied the necessary laboratory and production equipment to Caracas, carried out part of the repair work on the site, as well as trained the leading specialists of ESPROMED BIO in Russia on the development and production of insulins. A trial launch of the production line was successfully completed at the end of 2024. In 2025-2026, large-scale work is planned to restore engineering systems and modernize the ESPROMED BIO production line. The release of the first insulin preparations at the facilities of the ESPROMED BIO plant is expected in 2026, the Russian diplomatic mission said.
In total, the Russian company invested €5.5 million in the technological modernization of the Venezuelan enterprise, and another €16 million was allocated to finance its operating activities. It is expected that the plant will be able to produce more than 3 million vials of the drug annually after reaching its design capacity.
Venezuela ranks fifth in the Latin American region in terms of the number of people with diabetes between the ages of 20 and 79. In 2024, according to the International Diabetes Federation, 1.6 million of the approximately 28 million citizens suffered from this disease.
Problems with access to important medicines, including insulin, began in Venezuela in 2014, according to international human rights organizations. According to their data, in 2016, 76% of public hospitals did not even have basic medicines. The situation worsened with the introduction of US sanctions in 2017.
— The need for Russian insulin supplies became acute in Venezuela back in 2017, when many foreign companies shut down their operations and left the country's pharmaceutical market due to the sanctions imposed by the United States. During this difficult period, it was the Russian manufacturers who managed to respond promptly to the challenge by organizing supplies of a vital drug, which were subsequently increased," explains Timur Almukov, an expert on Latin America.
Russia sent the first batch of insulin to Venezuela in December 2019, which included 200 thousand packages. Since then, Moscow and Caracas have been regularly cooperating on this issue. By the end of the year, Venezuela will receive another batch of 500,000 packages of insulin and syringe pens, the embassy told Izvestia.
— The initiative to produce insulin in Venezuela is part of the medical diplomacy that Russia is seeking to pursue in Latin America. Venezuela is under sanctions that prevent the entry of medicines into the country, which the country mainly imports. Russia's initiative is designed to compensate for the shortage of medicines and is aimed at mitigating the effects of sanctions pressure on Venezuela," says Andrei Pyatakov, a leading researcher at the ILA RAS.
Strategic cooperation between Moscow and Caracas
Russia and Venezuela have strategic cooperation relations, which were enshrined in the relevant agreement that Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nicolas Maduro signed on May 7, 2025 in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a meeting in the Kremlin
On September 18, the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic unanimously approved the agreement on strategic partnership and cooperation with Russia in the first reading. This was announced by its chairman, Jorge Rodriguez. In order for the agreement to enter into force, another reading will be required.
The Russian parliament has not yet made a decision on the document.
— I'm not sure that hearings will be required here, the issue is quite obvious, the decision of the relevant committee, that is, our international affairs committee, will be enough. There will be no obstacles to this," Dmitry Novikov, First Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia.
The text of the agreement states the interest of the two countries in cooperation in such areas as the exploration and development of new oil and natural gas fields, increasing the returns of fields operated by joint ventures and reducing their environmental impact through the use of advanced production technologies, and expanding oil trading operations on a mutually beneficial basis. It is expected that Russia and Venezuela will also develop cooperation in the field of electric power industry.
— We have declared our alliance with Russia on a strategic level. We expect investments, and we expect investments to arrive in Venezuela not only in the energy sector, but also in projects related to food, pharmaceuticals, and industry. The agreement is quite extensive and will help the governments of both countries to support all initiatives of both private and public companies," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gil Pinto said in an interview with Izvestia in May.
Russia also cooperates with the Bolivarian Republic in the military-technical sphere. Earlier, Russian weapons and military equipment were supplied to the country, including multifunctional fighters, combat and transport helicopters, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, rocket and artillery weapons, modern air defense systems, and small arms. The parties also agreed to build a factory in Venezuela for the production of 7.62 mm cartridges for Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Moscow and Caracas have also managed to build a system of direct settlements, where some payments are already made in rubles. The possibility of using cards of the Russian Mir payment system is expanding in Venezuela.
For Venezuela, cooperation with Russia is important in terms of neutralizing the effect of Western sanctions. Most European countries and the United States do not recognize the results of the last presidential election. Some experts suggest that in order to change power in Venezuela, Washington began to pull its military forces into the Caribbean in August. At the same time, the United States justifies its actions by fighting drug trafficking. The Russian Federation condemned the attempts of interference and threats of use of force against Caracas.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
