A Barbadian pharmaceutical industry could reduce the country’s reliance on imported medicines and create a new stream of foreign exchange, Minister of Energy, Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds told the House of Assembly during debate on new legislation.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on the Barbados Medical Products Bill, Symmonds argued that the legislation represents a major step in strengthening the island’s supply chain resilience and reducing its dependence on imported medicines and medical products.
The bill forms part of a broader strategy to transform and diversify the Barbadian economy by creating a pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, he said.
“Carlisle Laboratories may have gone back about 100 years, and they have been doing these small prescriptions throughout the course of that period of time,” Symmonds said. “We are now at a point where we are supporting pharmacological development and life sciences investment, and building out a certain element of supply chain resilience for Barbados and laying the foundation for a national pharmaceutical industry.”
The minister noted that small island economies such as Barbados remain vulnerable because of their reliance on imports and limited manufacturing capacity. He pointed to international disruptions, including challenges experienced in accessing critical supplies during crises, as evidence of the need to strengthen domestic production capabilities.
“Countries like ours, which are import-dependent, will always be subject to some degree of fragility,” he said.
Successive administrations have had a responsibility to reduce those vulnerabilities by expanding domestic production and creating greater economic self-sufficiency, Symmonds said.
“There is a duty on the part of this government, and there has been a duty on the part of all previous governments of Barbados, to build out for our people a greater degree of independence economically.”
The country’s historic lack of manufacturing capacity had placed it at a disadvantage compared to larger economies, making the development of a pharmaceutical industry a key part of national economic transformation, he added.
The minister also said success would require a cultural shift and a commitment to maintaining international standards.
“We are putting ourselves in a position to develop pharmaceutical products for our society to utilise without us having to spend vital foreign exchange in importing them,” he said.
But he emphasised that Barbadian medicines must be able to “stand shoulder to shoulder with any other product” imported into Barbados or the wider region.
Beyond meeting domestic needs, Symmonds said the long-term goal is to establish Barbados as a pharmaceutical exporter.
He suggested that the industry could serve not only the island’s population but also regional and Latin American markets, creating a new source of foreign exchange earnings.
“This is another transformative thing,” he said, “because it enables us to have as an engine of the economy earning foreign exchange for Barbados the capacity to service not only the Caribbean but Latin America as well.”
(SB)
