ARGENTINA 

• ANMAT (Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Técnología Médica) recently approved an anti-obesity medication called liraglutide that’s administered daily via an injectable pen. Liraglutide (sold under the brand name Victoza in many markets) has been shown to produce significant weight loss benefits.

• ANMAT also approved another medication — one of the most expensive in the world. Spinraza is used to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare neuromuscular disorder. Spinraza has shown to be effective against 3 of the types of SMA, but the first year of treatment can cost $600,000 and the second year can cost up to $300,000.

• PharmaDorf arrived in Argentina in 2016 and recently has beefed up its sales structure by 40%, projecting to double its investment in the Argentine market in 2019, as well as its sales. The company is mostly focused on women’s health, respiratory, cardiovascular and neuroscience. Some of its brands include Avancel, Livianne, Drolzen, Tritace and Cervilane.

• Argentine pharma firm Laboratorios Bagó has become a leader in the Chinese market, with a 45% market share of the amoxicillin-sulbactam antibiotics market. Bagó has been exporting to China for 20 years and grew from selling 150,000 units of its products to 4.2 million units in 2018.

BRAZIL 

• Brazil has made strides in cancer treatment with the recent approval of 4 new cancer medications. These include Lenvima (lenvatnib mesylate) for renal cancer, Lynparza (olaparib) for ovarian cancer, Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for skin cancer and Blincyto (blinatumomabe) for leukemia.

• These are far from the only recent cancer breakthroughs in Brazil. Biological medicine is an up-and-coming cancer treatment that doesn’t have as many side effects as chemotherapy, and Mvasi (bevacizumabe) has now joined the ranks of biological medicines that are approved in Brazil for treating colorectal cancer, breast cancer and more.

• Pharmaceuticals now have a bigger presence in Brazil thanks to manufacturer ACG Group, which opened a massive capsule manufacturing plant in Pouso Alegre. The factory is over 14,000 square feet and will create 500 new jobs in the region.

• Migraine sufferers in Brazil received a big boost with the approval of erenumab (Pasurta), the first medication approved by Brazil that is designed specifically to treat migraines.

CHILE

• Medical marijuana is big business in Chile, where Spectrum Cannabis is investing $10 million to gain approval for three of its products.

• Unfortunately, there is some bad news out of Chile, where recent research indicates that medicine is significantly more expensive than in other Latin America markets. Some drugs, in fact, are up to 24 times more costly than they are elsewhere in the region.

• Tibelia, a hormone treatment for postmenopausal women, will soon be sold in the Chilean market. It’s one of many offerings in the country from the company Mithra.

COLOMBIA 

• Pharmaceuticals are a rapidly growing business in Colombia, where the country now leads the region in capital investment in pharmaceuticals from January to August 2018. Colombia has attracted some $193 million in pharmaceutical sector investments, which trumps Mexico ($157.5 million) and Argentina ($100 million).

• Pharmaceutical manufacturer Biib Colombia has made a $9 million investment in the country in order to provide drugs for diseases such as MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and muscular dystrophy.

• While most pharmaceutical news focuses on increasing drug prices, the cost of many drugs in Colombia is going down. This is due to the passage of a law known as Circular 7, which is intended to lower the price of medications to more reasonable levels.

• Patients with diabetes and heart disease risk received good news with the approval of a new drug that can be used to treat not only diabetes, but also cardiovascular disease risks related to diabetes.

MEXICO 

• Major pharmaceutical player Novartis is making a big move into Mexico with a $20 million investment in their service center. The result should be not only new medications, but also new jobs.

• Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) is in major growth mode, recently making acquisitions that have made it the second largest pharmacy company in Latin America. Only Similar Pharmacies has a larger presence in the region.

• Hepatitis C treatments took a major step forward in Mexico with the approval of Mavyret. This drug can treat all genotypes of hepatitis C and is more effective than many other hep C treatments.

• Finally, major strides have been made by Mexico’s health regulatory agency, Cofepris, to approve a wide variety of medical devices and drugs. Recently, over 13,000 requests have been approved, including some that had been delayed since 2007.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 

• Pharmaceuticals remain big business in the Dominican Republic, with annual revenue generation of $628 million, movement of 50 million units, and, most important, more than 20,000 jobs in the area. It’s also projected to show growth between 20 and 30 percent over the next year.

GUATEMALA 

• Pharmaceutical giant Bayer has had a business presence in Guatemala that stretches back more than 50 years. They recently invested even more in that relationship with a $41.5 million boost to the region in the form of upgrades and expansions to their Consumer Health plant.

PANAMA 

• Mexico isn’t the only country where Novartis is making waves. With a $4 million investment in Panama, Novartis plans to help more patients with affordably priced medication through their emerging market brands.

PERU 

• The big news out of Peru is the approval and regulation of medical marijuana through a supreme decree from the government. The decree established guidelines for the research, cultivation, importation and commercialization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
• Pharmaceutical exports are big business in Peru, where the total was more than $49 million between January and November 2018. This represented a 4.8 percent growth over the same period in 2017.

PUERTO RICO 

• Medical marijuana is also making strides in Puerto Rico, where Veritas Pharma plans to research their cannabis product CTL-X for the treatment of acute pain.

Next Steps

Understanding the medical procedures performed in Latin America can help you gauge demand for pharmaceutical products or medical equipment/devices. Contact us to request a demo of SurgiScope, our database of medical procedures performed in LatAm. You can also gain insights into specific markets through our InScope service.

1/3

In recent years about one-third of the LatAm population changed its eating habits due to concerns about health, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

48th

The ranking of Mexico’s health care professionals compared to 188 countries around the world, according to the British medical journal The Lancet. This is a big feather in Mexico’s cap, as it puts their health care system in elite company.

17 million

The number of Brazilians with diabetes, an alarming statistic that represents 8.9 %of the overall Brazilian population.

5

The five leading causes of death in Argentina are ischemic cardiopathies, low respiratory diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, COPD and Alzheimer’s.

4 out of 10

Colombians over the age of 50 suffer from a chronic disease. This includes medical issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.

50%

Of Chilean children between ages 5 and 7 have some degree of obesity, an unfortunate state of affairs for the country.

40

The number of years that it required for the obesity rate in Costa Rica to quadruple.

22%

of Latin Americans suffer from depression, according to WHO.

#49

The ranking, among all countries, of Chile in regard to its citizens’ access to medical care. This puts it in the top 25% in the entire world.

98%

The percentage of Chileans who at least try to eat healthy, according to the same survey.

70,000

Uruguayans have undiagnosed fibromyalgia, a commonly underdiagnosed condition that causes muscle aches, fatigue, pain and sensitivity.

45%

Of Brazilian adults have at least one chronic disease. This include major players such as diabetes, arthritis, asthma, high blood pressure and depression.

75

The average life expectancy for Mexicans who were born in the year 2015. This is 14 years older than the life expectancy of those born in 1970.

56%

Of Colombian adults struggle with being overweight or obese. This statistic may explain the issues with chronic diseases in the country.

3 out of 4

Mexicans in low-income areas suffer from some form of chronic disease. This includes diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and more.

10%

Of Colombians who endured chronic malnutrition in early childhood. This also appears to have a causal relationship with the health problems experienced by many Colombians later in life.

17.6%

The percentage of Mexicans 12 years or older who smoke. This number is up from the 17% documented in 2011.

1,100

People in Uruguay die of a chronic respiratory disease each year.

6

Slightly more than half (51%) of Argentines sleep 6 hours or less each night.

8 in 10

Latin Americans who suffer from hypertension don’t monitor it regularly, according to the WHO.

26

The number of people in Uruguay who die each day from a cardiovascular disease.

1 in 5

The number of Brazilians who believe the country’s health system meets the needs of the population, according to a recent study.

70%

The percentage of Brazilians who do not have private health insurance, according to a recent study.

3 out of 10

The number of Costa Ricans with high blood pressure, a major risk factor for other conditions such as heart disease and stroke.

28.3%

The percentage of Chileans who do not drink enough water each day, according to their recent National Health Survey.

• Cardiac assist devices: a compound adjusted growth rate (CAGR) of 11.65% between now and 2021
• Medical gases and equipment: a CAGR of 10.2% between now and 2020
• Home healthcare market: a CAGR of 8.7% between now and 2020
• Medical power supply devices: a CAGR of 6.85% between now and 2020
• Neurovascular devices market: a CAGR of 5.5% between now and 2024

Overall, in 2016 the Latin American market for medical devices and equipment was worth an impressive US$29 billion.

Here are some of the specific LatAm healthcare markets that are the big contributors to the overall region’s growth.

BRAZIL

Brazil has faced the unique situation in recent years of an economic downturn, coupled with a rising demand for cutting-edge healthcare equipment. However, the money just wasn’t there for institutions to purchase the needed supplies. That seems to be changing, however, as 2016 saw the Brazilian real gradually gain value against the dollar and we started seeing growth in 2017 in areas such as cars, smartphones and books. The same growth has happened with the healthcare sector in Brazil.

Some recent healthcare growth areas in Brazil include:

• Medical Expenditure: The overall projection is CAGR of 5.8% between now and 2020
• Biomaterials: Set to grow at a CAGR of 18.3% between now and 2022 to reach US$5.18 billion after having a value of US$1.89 billion in 2016
• Pharmaceuticals: Projected to grow with a CGR of 3.5% between now and 2021, increasing in value from US$25.3 billion in 2016 to US$29.9 billion in 2021

MEXICO

Mexico faced a similar economic downturn in 2015 and 2016, but the demand for medical equipment was so high that the market kept on chugging right through this downturn. The overall market grew from 2.0 billion units sold in 2014 to 2.4 billion units in 2016. This means that the medical equipment/devices and consumables market in Mexico grew by 8.8% YOY between 2014 and 2016. In addition, the value of Mexico’s medical device market expanded at 13% CAGR in this period: it went from US$46 billion in 2014 to US$60 billion in 2016. Taking an even longer view, Mexico’s medical devices market has grown by 15% annually over the past decade.

But medical devices is far from the only growth area in Mexico’s healthcare sector. To offer a couple of examples, the glucose monitoring devices market in Mexico is growing at a CAGR of 6.96% between now and 2021 and KPMG projects that the use of pharmaceutical products in Mexico will grow with an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 5.5% between now and 2020.

COLOMBIA

Colombia’s overall economic downturn seems more severe than other Latin American countries, and it’s likely to continue throughout 2017. However, that doesn’t mean that manufacturers shouldn’t be ready to strike. Columbia is lagging behind the other countries on this list in high-tech equipment, so the market is certainly there. And despite the downturn, several of these markets have experienced continued growth, including ECGs, ultrasounds, MRIs, gas masks, gas meters and more.

In addition, it’s important to note that Colombia’s pharmaceutical market is projected to grow by 7.3% CAGR between now and 2020 to surpass US$7 billion in value at that time.

Download a fact sheet on Colombia’s healthcare market here to get even more details.

ARGENTINA

Argentina’s recent economic woes have been well-documented. Yet despite this volatility, the medical equipment market has seen only minor losses, and several sectors have seen continued growth throughout Argentina’s struggles. Some of the key medical equipment sectors posting growth in Argentina between 2014 and 2016 include:

• Imports of massage and therapeutic respiration equipment: 9% increase in units and value
• Imports of CT scanners, X-Ray machines, radiography/radiotherapy: 11% growth in units and 3% in value
• Imports of orthopedic equipment, joints, hearing aids, heart valves, pacemakers: 5% increase in units and 15% increase in value

In addition, it’s projected that Argentina’s medical device market will grow at a CAGR of 13.3% between now and 2020. Learn more about specific growth areas for Argentina and review a detailed fact sheet for Argentina’s health market here.

PERU

Peru may be a smaller market than these other four countries, but it just might be the most promising. While the overall Latin American economic picture has been somewhat bleak in recent years, the medical equipment market in Peru has continued to chug along at a steady clip, growing 13 percent between 2014 and 2016. Manufacturers would be wise to tap this market while it continues to grow. Key growth sectors in Peru’s medical devices market between 2014 and 2016 include:

• Imports of CT scanners, X-Ray machines, and radiotherapy equipment: 4% CAGR growth in units and 5% increase in value
• Imports pf electrocardiographs, ultrasound machines and MRIs: 14% increase in units

Explore More

The comprehensive HospiScope database created by Global Health Intelligence (GHI) covers nearly 90% of the hospitals in the region.

Contact us for a demo. You’ll find you can access a deep level of detail for specific hot healthcare markets like these to identify sales opportunities, carry out propension analysis and populate your CRM. Find out how the database can help you spike your sales here.

While most of it is structured best for subscribers who use it for propension analysis and to uncover new sales opportunities, there are any number of basic data points that can be helpful for all kinds of Latin American healthcare professionals. With them in mind, we’ve created what we expect to be the first in a series of infographics on Latin American hospitals and healthcare so that our fellow professionals have a quick and handy resource for reference.

Click below to download GHI’s Latin American hospitals infographic.

The theft in medicines has led to the loss of approximately USD2.7 million and, also contributes to the rise of illegal trade of these products in the open market (street vendors and internet). About 4% of the medicines sold in Mexico are irregular (1.5% are for sale on the Internet and 2.5% in markets on wheels or illegal establishments), all of which represents approximately USD440 million a year.

The Unefarm, the authorities of the Federal Commission for the Protection of Health Risks (Cofepris) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) work in coordination to report the theft of lots of merchandise and detection of irregular market or web pages without the corresponding certificate. The Unefarm stated that from 2013 to date the federal authorities have suspended about 17,000 illegal advertising advertisements linked to health, of which 67% are on the internet.

The organization mentioned the existence of an international agreement between health agencies of Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay and Central America, in coordination with Spain, to combat this type of sites and, other agreements with portals such as Free Market and Second Hand for monitoring, in collaboration with the Cyber ​​Police.

In the last year alone there were at least 50 robberies and assaults to pharmacies in the eastern area of ​​the state of Mexico and Mexico City, reason why the entrepreneurs have had to resort to the purchase of Insurance policies, alarms and closed circuits of surveillance, but has been insufficient.

Aristeguinoticias

An example of this is the antiretroviral Kaletra, for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which Abbot sells in Mexico at a price of USD2.96 per pill, which amounts to more than USD2,100 annually.

World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 700,000 people die in Latin America every year due to lack of access to medicines. Families in the region spend an average of 30% of their income on health issues. The AHF emphasized on promoting early detection of the disease to curb HIV epidemic.

Currently, only 60% of HIV positive people in Mexico are aware of the available treatments. Government can provide treatment only if the authorities can buy generic medicines at more affordable prices. The organization urged the Mexican government to take advantage of the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Additionally, pharmaceuticals prefer to extend their patents on medicines to generate profits at the expense human life. It was suggested by the AHF that patient organizations be included in meetings where governments and pharmaceutical companies discuss reductions in drug prices.

Noreste

As per the Colombian Immigration Agency records, the number of international passengers travelling for healthcare services, has grown by 22.9% every year (6,281 tourists in 2012 to 14,339 tourists in 2016).

The cities such as Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Bucaramanga attract the largest number of international patients who are looking for quality care in healthcare services in the fields of ophthalmology, cardiology, dentistry, neurology, and oncology etc.

A report by Procolombia states that healthcare services in the country are approximately 40% cheaper than in the United States. Besides that, the geographical position of the country is an advantage with its access to a whole continent and highly trained human resources, additionally, international organizations such as Joint Commission International have certified five hospitals for their patient care standards. As per the ranking provided by América Economía, Colombia has 22 hospitals that are listed among the best hospitals in Latin America.

Explore More

To uncover sales opportunities within the Colombian market for capital equipment, medical devices, PACS, RIS and more, contact Global Health Intelligence to learn more about our hospitals database, which tracks more than 130 data points for more than 15,000 hospitals in  Latin America. You can also see which are the best-equipped hospitals in Colombia with our newly released ranking.

The AI market in the health field is booming, supported by Silicon Valley giants and emerging companies. The market has been estimated to reach USD6.6 billion by 2021. The market is anticipated to have a double digit accelerated growth of 62.2% between 2016-2022.

The data collection is mainly via smartphones and other connected objects that the companies are developing. Companies like Cardiogram are creating applications that can detect arrhythmias in users of smart watches. The company uses the clock’s sensors and an algorithm to distinguish a normal heart rate from an atrial fibrillation which can lead to a heart attack. University of Harvard and university of Vermont created to tool to identify cases of depression by analyzing the photos published on the Instagram network. Google (Alphabet), is developing its departments’ DeepMind using AI to help doctors assess the risks of cancer spread and develop appropriate radiotherapy treatments.

Other big companies involved in developing AI tools are IBM, Medtronic, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Sentrian, Healthsense Inc, Propeller Health, Buoy Health, etc. Most new startups use machine learning and predictive analytics. Currently, North America leads the AI healthcare market, followed by Europe. India and China in the Asia Pacific region have the highest potential for growth.

Explore More

Sign up for our LatAm hospitals database today to find out about tech capabilities of more than 15,000 hospitals in Latin America: rock-solid, dependable data for making decisions and spiking your sales with detailed knowledge that uncovers opportunities. These kinds of insights can give you a better understanding of AI tools being used in Latin American hospitals. We can also go further with custom research that will further let you see the gaps your equipment can fill and thus drive revenues.

To fill this gap, Global Health Intelligence (GHI) decided to delve into its database (which covers 86% of all hospitals in Latin America and now includes Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay) to analyze which hospitals have the highest equipment counts in 4 specific categories:

• Patient care (number of beds)
• Diagnostic imaging equipment
• Cardiovascular equipment
• Maternity unit equipment

These four categories are critical pillars when evaluating patient care. The number of beds within an institution is often an indicator of the size of the hospital and may be correlated to the level of care. Diagnostic imaging equipment is essential to properly diagnose any number of life-threatening and chronic conditions. Cardiovascular equipment is just as important given the prevalence of heart disease in Latin America. A majority of births take place in hospitals and birthing is one of the main activities of most hospitals, which denotes significant importance to maternity units and infant care. While additional categories could have been included, GHI decided to focus on these 4 areas of care in order make the ranking more manageable.

Why Multiple Categories and Countries?

Rankings are often all-encompassing with no specific focus, such as the “The 50 best hospitals.” Given the complexities of healthcare systems in place and the context in which they operate, GHI opted to acknowledge these characteristics by creating a ranking per leading category. This also enables smaller yet more specialized hospitals to form part of the ranking.

GHI applied the same plurality by setting up the rankings per country in order to reflect local market dynamics accurately. For example, Brazil has over 200 million people and over 7,000 hospitals. It would be an unjust comparison to include Brazilian hospitals alongside those of Peru, for instance, a market that’s 10 times smaller.

Rankings for the Best Equipped Hospitals

The best-equipped hospitals in Argentina
The best-equipped hospitals in Brazil
The best-equipped hospitals in Chile
The best-equipped hospitals in Colombia
The best-equipped hospitals in Dominican Republic
The best-equipped hospitals in Mexico
The best-equipped hospitals in Peru
The best-equipped hospitals in Puerto Rico

Dive Deeper

This GHI ranking will give you an initial sense of which Latin American hospitals are best-equipped. But that’s just a surface view. It takes a deeper dive into the data to understand which market segments have the best potential to drive your revenues.

You can get this deep dive by subscribing to our database , which quickly lets you use data visualization tools to see which hospitals have the biggest needs and what those needs are. Parsing that is what will uncover opportunities for your sales team and allow you to grow your revenues in different markets. Check out this video to understand how the database can help drive new and existing revenue streams. Then contact GHI directly for an even deeper sense of how our database can be the perfect tool for your sales team.

Despite the volatility, several modalities demonstrated strong growth between 2014 and 2016.

Here’s a look at the top 3, all of which offer some interesting opportunities in key areas.

Download the complete report for more information.

Go Further

While our report offers a strong handle on these growth areas, it won’t let you know equipment counts for specific hospitals so you can see which ones offer the best sales opportunities. For that, you need the deep granular detail available in our hospital database, which lets you see equipment counts for nearly 70% of Argentina’s hospitals, key contacts for purchase and much more. Contact us to subscribe to our database so you can get started today on uncovering new sales from the Argentine hospital market.

Beyond that, we can also help with fresh data on market share so you can see where you stand in comparison to your competitors or deliver some custom research to further help you edge out the competition with crucial market intelligence.