|
The Mexican market for pharmaceuticals is
one of the largest in Latin America, second only to Brazil.
Because of current sanitary regulations,
most multinational companies have significant local
manufacturing facilities to supply not only the Mexican but also
the Central American markets. Per these sanitary regulations,
only licensed manufacturers are able to import pharmaceuticals.
The private sector accounts for 80 to 85 percent of the total
value of the market, but in volume it is the public sector that
supplies the vast majority of dosages to the Mexican population.
Lack of adequate patent protection has become a concern for U.S.
companies in the past few years, as the current regulations
still have some significant gaps.
The pharmaceutical industry in Mexico is
one of the most developed in Latin America, with a significant
local production of bulk active ingredients and finished
products. This situation is partially due to the Mexican health
regulations, which practically allow only manufacturers to
register and therefore import pharmaceutical products into
Mexico.
European companies were the first ones to
establish local manufacturing facilities, but in the 1970s and
early 1980s the number of Mexican pharmaceutical firms
increased, as the government of Mexico implemented a policy to
substitute imports. Traditionally, Mexican firms have been
focused on the manufacture of generic products, for which
patents have expired, targeting the public sector as their main
customer. Innovative pharmaceuticals are practically limited to
multinational companies that transfer the technology from their
parent companies.
Over the past 20 years, the Mexican
government has liberalized imports, privatized some industries,
and loosened price controls. Although the Mexican pharmaceutical
industry is a good example of Mexico’s modern global economy,
traces of protectionism still coexist; the government still sets
maximum prices of medicines...
...Continued
in the pages of Twin Plant News, Subscribe Today! |
