General Manager North LatAm, IQVIA
Within our company, Mexico is a relevant market because the pharmaceutical market and different health services provided in the country are important at both the regional as well as global level. Latin America, for example, should account for around 9% of the total sales of pharmaceutical products as a group, and Mexico is the second market in Latin America. Therefore, for most pharmaceutical companies, it is important to have a presence here and commercialize their products. In terms of the strategy of the company, Mexico is a great place to develop clinical studies. We also develop other services related to the tracking and measurement of the pharmaceutical market here, technology services that we provide for clients, as well as consultancy services. Meanwhile, our acquisitions have been global and already have a presence in Mexico. We are a new company and integrate our services in the clinical studies area that Quintiles had as its main services. We also integrated CRM services with another acquisition as well as databases for physicians tracking and communicating with them. The traditional business that we used to have in the past is more oriented to consulting services and technology. Everything together results in a larger company and a more holistic approach to our clients giving the full breadth of services. It benefits everyone, including IQVIA and our clients, because now we can serve them better.
CEO, Aspen Labs in Spanish LATAM
From a group perspective, it is an important region. We have been suffering for the last two to three years due to certain regional circumstances, the main one being Venezuela, since we used to do a great deal of business there, but have halted operations for the time being due to the economic and social situation. The situation in Mexico was also critical; there was a significant devaluation in the last couple of years, as well as in Colombia, which hit us critically, as we used to be a USD500-million company here but have had to reduce our business in a significant way. We are assessing the amount of business that we lost. This is a challenging situation, and we are looking at ways to continue to push our organic growth. We need to find additional opportunities to acquire from a regional perspective, either certain companies or products to ramp the business up to the level it should be. This is the situation so far. From the group’s perspective, Latin America is a key arena due to the business model we have. We need to understand what areas to be focused on and which regional opportunities to pursue, since from a group perspective LATAM should be the third leg of the group.
Country President, Ana Longoria
Globally, Novartis is well recognized for the high level of our investments in R&D, which is close to 20% of profits, which has resulted in one of the strongest R&D pipelines in the industry. In terms of how this translates to Mexico, we have been able to launch important molecules into the Mexican market thanks to all this innovation. For example, we recently launched a molecule to treat heart failure that is changing the lives of thousands of patients with heart disease. Innovations at Novartis are happening around the globe at the same time they are being introduced in Mexico, which is great. We have several other molecules coming up that will be launched in the Mexican market as a result of our strong pipeline. Novartis has several research centers globally, and we are constantly working on innovations to provide healthcare solutions for patients in different therapeutic areas. Of the major problems the country is facing, cardiovascular disease is one of the biggest issues and something we need to tackle as a health community. Another related issue is diabetes, a major concern for the government and industry. The third is cancer and is another area where you will see a lot of innovation from different companies, including Novartis.
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MEXICO - Agriculture
Interview
General Secretary, National Food and Commerce Union (SNAC)