Staying Relevant Within the Health Sector

This week in health, Estefania Torres, Óscar De la Garza, Fernando Becerril Orta and César Marrón, main leaders of the industry, share essential information about the sector, what their companies are doing to stay relevant and how to use technology in favor of innovative projects. Additionally, MBN hosted Mexico Health Summit Echo, where companies and relevant agents in the sector took time to talk about the importance of treating patients, new technologies that will revolutionize the sector and the importance of public-private collaboration.

 Here are the week’s major headlines in health!

• Estefanía Torres, Therapeutic Area Lead at Takeda, highlights technology’s position as an ally for treatment development. She mentions the role Takeda wants to play in the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Mexico and in the battle against the country’s chronic-degenerative burden. “As a company, we want to raise awareness about unknown diseases to avoid future complications that can later lead to chronic degenerative diseases. We want to transform patients’ lives through awareness, adherence to treatment, support and follow-ups.”

The company will introduce six innovative products over three years. “This year, we plan to introduce a primary immunodeficiency solution based on a replacement therapy to reestablish deficient immunoglobulin levels. This is a subcutaneous therapy with a highly effective outcome for patients. As a highly innovative biopharmaceutical company, we are working on integrating technological solutions that accelerate data analysis to identify solutions faster. We are also focused on enhancing our team’s capabilities to translate their knowledge into solutions for society.” 

• Óscar De la Garza, CEO and Founder of MEDPACOM, comments on a closer doctor-patient relationship. The company’s core business is centered around empowering health professionals to generate income through virtual consultations. Advice or recommendations provided through a traditional digital communication app can make the medical practice less professional, which devalues the doctor’s knowledge and experience. MEDPACOM wants to be a supporter of IMSS and public healthcare institutions in the same way pharmacy-adjacent medical offices (PAMO) are. “We are first approaching Nuevo Leon’s government and later, we will approach institutions in other states.” 

• Fernando Becerril Orta, Senior Partner of Becerril, Coca y Becerril and MBN Expert Contributor, shares information on IP’s role in accessing and developing medical devices. “When we talk about inventions or patents, we find countless technological developments that are generated in the world for a wide variety of economic sectors that range from primary industries to services and creative industries. In this sense, for those who participate in the sector of fundamental human needs, such as health, it is clear that one of the sectors that most use the mechanisms for the protection of industrial property rights (IPR) in a global way is the health industry.” Industrial property is a development engine that has allowed the world’s most important economies to create a better investment environment, foster technological development and improve the conditions and access to health and general well-being for the entire population. 

• César Marrón, Director General of Cardinal Health and MBN expert contributor, talks about design thinking and how it can keep a company’s value proposition competitive. For businesses to succeed, leaders must be adaptable and well equipped to manage change on an ongoing basis, especially if they are looking to improve their portfolio, customer services and communication with customers and workforce. “Understanding your customer is critical, but it is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to propelling your business forward. By fully embracing the design thinking methodology across your business, you are setting yourself up for successful visioning, compelling value propositions, enhancing workplace culture and reframing challenges, all of which are essential to improving and re-creating business models.”

• During Mexico Health Summit Echo, Martha Delgado, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs talked about standing against the worst global pandemic. From the start of the pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was appointed to support, by all means possible, the acquisition of medical supplies. Later, this goal expanded to the acquisition of vaccines to inoculate all Mexicans. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard to coordinate all diplomatic activities, so Mexico could properly face the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this mission, the Ministry coordinated three primary action areas to face COVID-19: donations, access to personal protection equipment (PPE) and access to vaccines. “Through our efforts, we managed to increase Mexico’s ventilator capacity by 170 percent, helping reduce the country’s hospital burden,” said Delgado. “Much of the Ministry’s work aims to strengthen Mexico’s position in the economic sphere. We should not forget that the country has a large capacity to export pharmaceutical products to central America and Latin America.” Delgado said that the Ministry of Health would be, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was, supported by the nation’s customs department, BIRMEX and SEDENA, among others. 

• Manuel Cervantes Ocampo, Coordinator of first-level medical units at IMSS, shared information on how access to health has become a national priority. This implies access to comprehensive health services for all people and communities without distinction, regardless of their financial capabilities, especially marginalized groups, said Cervantes Ocampo. To achieve this, the sector requires appropriate and competent health and care personnel, proximity services in communities “where people study, work or live,” equitable distribution of resources and financial support. During the current administration, IMSS has prioritized contributing to universal and free access to health services and medicines for the entire population, said Cervantes Ocampo. Likewise, the institute seeks to guarantee the quality and coverage of institutional services and benefits. Some of these services are being provided now as part of the IMSS Bienestar program, which is free for all Mexicans. “The responsibility to provide health services lies not only with a few but with everyone,” said Cervantes Ocampo. 

• Alejandro Valerio, Associate Practice Leader for Mexico and Central America of FrontierView, talked about Mexico’s recovery and the agenda that should be followed. Although 2021 has been better than expected for the Mexican economy, factors such as the slow vaccination process and the spending priorities of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration pose a risk to the country’s finances. In addition to economic stimuli, recovery continues to be linked to the vaccination process. According to FrontierView, Mexico has secured enough vaccines to immunize 99 percent of its population but the process has been sluggish. By late August, only 27 percent of the country’s population had already been fully inoculated. Other countries in the region have vaccinated much larger segments of their population: Chile already vaccinated 72 percent, Ecuador 50 percent and Brazil 31 percent of their people. Meanwhile, Mexico is expected to have 80 percent of its population fully vaccinated by early 2022, FrontierView data reveals.