Brazil's national economic and social development bank BNDES has signed an agreement to invest in a selection of innovative bioscience and infrastructure projects at the state-owned Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, part of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (Nat. Biotechnol. 27, 1063–1064, 2009). The Rio de Janeiro–headquartered foundation, also known as Fiocruz, is planning a range of R&D projects that would require an estimated R&D $1 billion (US$536 million). BNDES will cover part of these costs, and Fiocruz hopes to get the rest through partnerships with the private sector. Fiocruz has already received the first R&D $40 million ($21.4 million) installment, which is being used to finish the facilities of a new Center for Technological Development in Health (CDTS) and to fund several projects at the Immunobiological Technology Institute in Rio de Janeiro (known as Bio-Manguinhos). Among the schemes selected for funding is the production of recombinant epoetin alpha, recombinant human alpha-interferon and PEG-interferon. The recently launched Integrated Center for Prototypes, Biodrugs and Diagnostic Reagents in Rio de Janeiro will partner to develop new bacterial and viral vaccines. This year, Fiocruz hopes to start producing 50 million doses of recombinant human insulin per year, thanks to a technological exchange with the Ukrainian Indar Institute. Brazil now imports around 170 million doses of insulin a year.