Commercial Associations Provide Better Balance in the Market

Q: After 40 years, what are the major lessons Allen Laboratorios has taken away from the manufacturing of pharma products?

A: The business model and the structure of the company have improved over the years thanks to greater clarity in the regulations to develop pharmaceutical products. In the last 10 years, we have renewed all our manufacturing equipment to boost our growth and improve our competitiveness. We want to revolutionize our laboratory with greater investments in technology, new business models and new ways of manufacturing our products. Allen Laboratorios is implementing concrete measures to consolidate itself as a competitive laboratory and become a leader in the national generics market. We are strongly committed to training our staff to maximize productivity and increase our expertise. Allen Laboratorios wants to couple training with leadership skills because our vision is to go beyond knowing how to operate a machine. We also want our employees to understand how to lead a team.

Q: How does Allen Laboratorios stay competitive in the generics market?

A: We participate actively and directly with COFEPRIS and other associations, such as AMEGI, CANIFARMA and DINAMEGI, so our impact in the generics sector is much greater. Our participation with associations and authorities is oriented to providing representativeness, but also to having a voice in the pharmaceutical sector. Allen Laboratorios also invests heavily in the training of its personnel to strengthen the monitoring of COFEPRIS' normative guidelines. All our strategies are oriented to providing a high-added value to the client according to regulations. It is important that both the smallest labs and those with national stature can participate in the market and that they have weight in the industry’s decisionmaking process.

Q: What is the penetration that Allen Laboratorios has in the pharmaceutical market with its therapeutic lines?

A: Allen Laboratories has two star products: paracetamol and gerial B-12. The latter is a supplement to improve the deficiencies of the B complex or iron citrate that has registered double-digit growth year after year. In the case of paracetamol, our brand is key to offer a differentiation factor and our quality standards are recognized by the government as a reference for the industry. Allen Laboratorios invests heavily in raw materials of the highest quality, because regardless of currency changes, we can control the production process and remain competitive. These conditions make products like our paracetamol market leaders.

Q: What recommendations would Allen Laboratorios make to IMPI and COFEPRIS to improve fair competition among generics and patented medicines?

A: Allen Laboratorios believes in promoting fair competition where generics are not left behind. Greater collaboration between the generics and patented sectors will result in greater benefits for the patient and the market. Authorities such as IMPI and COFEPRIS should consider the conditions of the market and the impact of the generics segment to promote greater associations between these two players. We need to create real commercial alliances between generics and patents to promote collaborations that go beyond a merely transactional matter of knowledge and technology. The patented segment should collaborate more with the generics segment to create better access and availability of medicines.

Q: What impact has innovation and technology had on Allen Laboratorios?

A: Technology is key to our operations and was fundamental for us to go from a turnover of MX$30 million to more than MX$300 million in approximately 10 years. Technologies can help small laboratories move from producing artisanal medicines to become fully automatized. We want our employees to go from being manufacturers to supervisors with operational knowledge. This change has benefited us and now we are more profitable.