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sales force. We prepared well for the boom in pure generics, which
took a lot of work, but we succeeded. Branded generics have existed
for a long time in Mexico and we have worked for many years
in promoting our vision of the company which is based on quality
and trust through our services and our products.”
Stendhal has based a large part of its business on in-licensing
innovation from multinationals and building itself up to be the
government’s partner of choice. That is not an easy task, especially
when focused on the anti-retroviral market involving tricky
negotiations with government healthcare institutions. The company
has managed to maintain 25-30% yearly growth over the
last two years and its products are now offered to 70% of HIV
patients in Mexico. Luis Calderón, managing director of Stendhal,
attributes this to their long-term attitude and quality.
“Stendhal is not a company that looks for opportunistic business,
by participating in a tender one year and disappearing the
following year: we want to increase our market share sustainably
and be in a place where we can adapt alongside the changing
interests of the healthcare environment in order to increase
patient share.” he explains.
Maquila country
Other companies have turned to contract manufacturing, an
easier revenue generator as long as you have quality standards
and long-term vision. In fact, many companies use contract
manufacturing to provide the revenue needed to develop their
own brand.
This is the case with Biofarma Natural CMD, whose general
director Ignacio Luna explains, “Creating a brand in Mexico involves
many years of hard work and a lot of investment, and for
us it has been much easier to simply generate revenue through our
manufacturing strengths. We are proud of the fact that we are one
of the only manufacturing plants in Mexico granted licenses for
both medical products and herbal products. We have all the certificates
and Good Manufacturing Processes (GMPs) that go with
it. This attracts companies in the industry who are searching for
high quality.”
TOO MUCH TORTILLA
According to the BMI’s Burden of Disease Database (BoDD), a few
years ago diabetes represented 6% of all disability-adjusted life
years (DALYs) in Mexico. This figure will continue to rise until
more than 1.5 million DALYs are lost to the disease less than fifteen
years from now. Local data indicates that more than a third
of Mexicans who have diabetes are unaware that they are suffering
from the disease. As it stands, diabetes represents about 35%
of all Mexico’s public health spending, and data published suggests
that there will be more than 13.5 million sufferers by the year
2025.
Diabetes is clearly Mexico’s biggest current health problem,
which may be explained by the fact that Mexico is currently top
in the world for child obesity, and number two for adult obesity.
Although looking at increasingly popular eating habits in Mexico,
the problem most likely isn’t too much tortilla. It is the highly
westernized diet that has crept into Mexican society in the form
of too many processed foods and far too many sugar-filled sodas.
Joel Durán, director of marketing at diabetes specialist Novo
Nordisk in Mexico, suggests that due to the sheer size of the
problem, a solution backed by all stakeholders in the market
needs to be found.
“Given the speed at which diabetes is rising we need stronger
collaborations and partnerships in order to change the mentality
of the Mexican people. If we do not do this, we will not
achieve the common goal of changing the face of diabetes and
tackle the problem in the most effective way. We should beat diabetes
before it beats us. That is our main concern—how can
we make a change and how can we participate and provide knowledge,
expertise, education, and be a factor of change in terms of
finding a solution, to ultimately beat diabetes.”
Not many people can disagree with that stance, but it may
be easier said than done.
The three largest social security institutions in Mexico; IMSS,
ISSTE and Seguro Popular, run specific diabetes programs that
include nutritional education and psychological support. They
are also trying to include a wider selection of pharmaceutical
treatments in an attempt to provide more comprehensive care.
S17 FOCUS REPORTS AUGUST 2012
22 August 2012
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FOCUS REPORTS