Mexican Health Sector Outlook: Mexico Health Summit

This week, MBN held the first virtual edition of Mexico Health Summit 2020/2021, covering a wide range of topics ranging from COVID-19 to the opportunities that cannabis offers.

Health Summit Highlights

• State of the Sector. Patrick Devlyn, President of the Health Commission at CCE, shared the main challenges the sector is going through, ranging from low investments and a fragmented public health system to the impact of economic reforms. However, he sees opportunities in the sector. Read more here.
• COVID-19 Vaccine. Cecilia Padierna from LEI, Juan Silanes from Inosan Bipharma, Yolanda Cervantes from GSK México and Mario Sturion from Janssen Mexico discussed the challenges of developing a COVID-19 vaccine caused. Sturion called this a period of historic collaboration, while Cervantes warned those in the industry to prepare for the coming hurdles: distribution, access and vaccine application. Read more here!
• Diabetes in Mexico. Héctor Valle, President of FunSalud, explained that COVID-19 and diabetes have been a wake-up call for Mexico’s health system. There are only 893 endocrinologists in the entire country, he said at the summit, when 12 to 14 percent of the population has diabetes. Read the full article here.
• Opportunity With Cannabis. Erik Ponce from GPIC, Cristina Viruega from TIC INTL, Fernando Becerril from BC&B and Guillermo Nieto from ANICANN, discussed Mexico’s economic potential with clinically approved cannabis products. Nieto even argued that Mexico could be the biggest producer of cannabis medicine patents worldwide. Read why here!
• Lack of Financing. Montserrat Galindo from 3M Healthcare Provision, Alejandro Paolini from AMID, César Marrón from Cardinal Health Mexico and Adriana de Villa from Atramat, discussed the financial barrier the medical sector faces in Mexico and the importance of technology adoption for health improvements. Read their discussion here.
• New Healthcare Models. Diego Guarín from Merck, Sandra Sánchez-Oldenhage from PharmAdive Consulting, Augusto Muench from Boehringer Ingelheim and Javier Pico from LifeSciences Consultants discussed ways to create a Value-Based Healthcare model without sacrificing the quality of patient care. How can the industry improve the health of the population while reducing costs? Read their arguments here.
• Chronic Disease Prevention. David Kershenobich from INCMNSZ wants people to understand the importance of preventing chronic diseases. He argued that this is a problem with social, cultural and historical aspects. What can people do to prevent these conditions and what are the enormous costs of treating chronic degenerative diseases? Kershenobich discusses both here.

Featured Interviews

Excellence Through Techonology – José Luis Ortíz, Managing Director at Medistik

Ortíz discusses the strategies the company used to improve its logistics and distribution capacities. He mentions insecurity as the main challenge the company faces in Mexico, while offering insight on ways the company plans to take advantage of business opportunities. Read more here.

Technology a Major Ally in Addressing COVID-19 Crisis - Tomás Iglesias, Founder and CEO of Osiris Healthtech Systems

Iglesias discussed the ways in which he developed his digital platform. Due to the pandemic, it became a strategic source of information through the crisis. Osiris Healthtech Systems has become an electronic clinical record that Iglesias believes could be used like Uber or Rappi but in the health sector. Read why here.

Top MBN Contributors

COVID Vaccine: Human Right – Alejandro Luna, Partner at Olivares

After AMLO’s announcement regarding the private sector’s participation in the COVID-19 vaccine application, Alejandro Luna said vaccination should not be seen as a free concession from this or any other government or political party but a human right. Read more here.

National

Ivermectin: Controversial COVID-19 Drug Used in Mexico City

The Ministry of Health of Mexico City determined there is enough evidence to use medicines such as ivermectin and azithromycin on SARS-CoV-2 positive people, even for those without symptoms. However, other countries are concerned about their use and effects. Read more here