Military Laboratory is extinguished and gives place to LM – National Medicine Laboratory

O Decree-Law No. 13/2021, of 10 February, gives an account of the extinction of the Military Laboratory of Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (LMPQF) to give rise to the creation of the National Medicines Laboratory (LM). This new laboratory, integrated into the Army, could produce cannabis-based drugs, but the details are not yet known.

Currently, the LMPQF already produces, among others, orphan drugs for rare diseases and some drugs abandoned by the pharmaceutical industry, activates production lines to respond to emergencies or drug shortages and is the producer of methadone, which is used in substitution programs dependencies or antidotes to military and civilian practice.

The creation of the LM is part of a commitment to national production in the medicine sector, guaranteeing the strategic production of essential medicines, supplying the needs not covered by the pharmaceutical industry and also allowing for an increase in economic development. It is also part of the promotion of the national scientific and technological system in the medicine sector, encouraging public research and therapeutic innovation.

The designation «LM – Laboratório Nacional do Medicamento» aims to continue the «LM» brand, maintaining its value, as it is a distinctive, identifying and representative trait of quality for more than 100 years of work in the pharmaceutical field.

Military Laboratory, an independent centennial institution, merged with the Army in 2019

Decree-Law no. 102/2019, of August 6, defined the terms of the merger of the Military Laboratory of Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (LMPQF) in the Army, as an organ of support to more than one branch, removing its legal personality, and approved the rules of its organization and operation.

In the aforementioned decree-law, the main mission of the LMPQF, a century-old institution, continued to be of a military nature, providing logistical support in the areas of medicine and sanitary material to the Armed Forces, which includes the national forces deployed. Furthermore, its links with bodies outside the Army were reinforced, in particular with other branches of the Armed Forces and with the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and its relations with the Ministry of Health were strengthened, since cooperation between the areas of health and national defense justifies continuous articulation at the policy level, as well as coordination between organizations and services, creating synergies aimed at better pursuit of the public interest.

A Law No. 2 / 2020, of 31 March, which approved the State Budget for 2020, in its current wording, established the creation of the National Medicines Laboratory (LM), part of the Army's organizational structure, endowed with administrative and financial autonomy and its own assets, and which succeeds the LMPQF in all of its rights and obligations.

The definition of strategic guidelines and the setting of objectives for the LM, as well as the monitoring of its execution, are articulated between the members of the Government responsible for the areas of national defense and health, in cooperation with the member of the Government responsible for the area of science and technology. As a State laboratory, the legal regime in force for institutions dedicated to scientific research and technological development applies to LM.

In fact, the LM, as a State laboratory, has the mission of contributing to the development of research and production of medicines, medical devices and other health products, carrying out these activities in line with what is established in the national and community legislative and regulatory framework. applicable to these products.

At the military and operational level, the LM has a specific mission to support the Armed Forces, in the area of ​​technical-military cooperation, in the development of health actions, in carrying out clinical analyses, and, in the assistance area, in pharmaceutical support to the military and to the disabled in the Armed Forces.