There is some uncertainty about fhe extent to which Latin America and the Caribbean have participated in the advances of health-related industrial biotechnology. This article reviews the available literature and seeks to provide an overview of the prevailing situation. In general, national governments and multinational agencies have provided most of the health-related biotechnology investments within this region. Efforts to achieve technology transfers, a subject of prime concern, have been developed by a number of programs including the WHO Special Program for Researcha nd Training in Tropical Diseases, the UNDP/UNESCO/UNIDO Regional Biotechnology Program for Latin America and the Caribbean; PAHOs Program for the Regional Development of Biotechnology as Applied to Health; The PAHO/WHO Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI); and PAHO’s Regional System of Vaccines (SIREVA). Regarding current production capacity, some successful efforts have been made to produce a variety of therapeutic products including recombinant and natural interferons, interleukins, insulin, and recombinant streptokinase; but in general the regions current potenfial in this area is at best incipient and uncertain. However, the region does have a limited ability to make diagnostic products and a well-established capacityfor vaccine development. Overall, this picture suggests that the region has the potential to play a small but significant role in healthrelated biotechnology.