universal healthcare Healthcare is one of the next items on President Peña Nieto’s busy agenda. The objective: moving Mexico towards universal healthcare coverage. The initiative was started at the beginning of 2000 by the previous government with the objective of ensuring in the long term that “any Mexican – employed or unemployed…

healthcare “Argentina’s health system is in agony” In March 2002, amidst an economic crisis and national healthcare emergency the then Minister of Health Gines Gonzales Garcia declared “Argentina’s health system is in agony… What is lacking is money, not drugs. Our country has the best pharmaceutical industry in Latin America. The…

Since he took office in December 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto has achieved much in terms of the number of major reforms passed in Mexico. Besides the most expected change opening the long-time state-run energy sector to foreign investment, Peña Nieto’s government undertook an ambitious program of reforms aimed at…

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a potentially life-threatening illness currently afflicting eight to ten million people worldwide. Latin America is home to the vast majority of Chagas patients, as the disease is most commonly transmitted through contact with the faeces of triatomine insects, also known…

biotech Over the course of a day of unprecedented collaboration, Argentina’s biotech industry came together to discuss the challenges facing their industry in Argentina and the region at BioArgentina 2014, an event organized by the Argentinian Chamber of Biotechnology (CAB). Bringing together over 900 professionals across the industry, with perspectives from the…

partnerships “We are glad to host, together with ETIF, an event bringing forward pharma technologies to Argentinian patients. We hope this collaboration with ETIF will be the first of many” – Ines Nandin, Publisher, PharmaBoardroom The eighth biennial Pharmaceutical Industry Technology Event (ETIF) took recently took place in Buenos Aires, running from…

distribution Although Chile is a relatively small market, with only 17 million inhabitants, its geography makes it a challenging environment for logistics and distribution services. Chile stretches over 4,300 km along the southwest coast of South America, a distance roughly the same as that from San Francisco to New York. At…

generics Chile is aiming to achieve complete bioequivalence of generics by the end of 2014. Chile’s Public Health Institute is leading the bioequivalence testing, aimed at regulating differences between generic and bioequivalent drugs. The recently appointed director of the Public Health Institute, Ricardo Fabrega, echoes the need for drastic change and…

mergers The global pharmaceutical sector continues to witness significant mergers and acquisitions activity, with 122 M&A deals completed in 2013. This trend has continued due to several multi-billion dollar deals around the world in 2014, which is already recorded the busiest year for healthcare acquisitions. In Chile, the dealmaking sweeping started in December 2013…

  Canada operates a single-payer healthcare system in which the majority of services are provided by private entities, which are paid for at the provincial level. The Canada Health Act of 1984 stipulates universal coverage for all insured health services as administered by the country’s ten provinces. Medication is covered…

Basic Research Despite declining investments by big pharma in recent years, Canada has created a number of innovative ways to incentivize R&D throughout its vast geography. “Science powers commerce,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked in 2010. In those three words, the prime minister summarizes a massive effort by various stakeholders to…

Colombia Medical devices are one of the most profitable niches in Colombian health. Marisol Sanchez, president of the Camara de Proveedores de Salud, notes that “the medical device sector correlated to roughly COP 2.01 trillion (USD 1.1 billion) in 2012, with more than 10 percent growth from last year. Ninety percent…