Miami, .- The pharmaceutical division of the multinational Bayer turnover last year 985 million euros (1,103 million dollars) in Latin America, a region in an accelerated process of demographic aging, where cardiovascular diseases and cancer are having for that reason greater impact.
Sales in the region increased 6.7% in 2018, the seventh consecutive year of growth, said Mexican Eduardo Magallanes, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Division for Latin America, which has a presence in 20 countries and more than 1,530 employees.
Magallanes and the vice president of Medical Affairs of the same division and region, the Colombian Luz Cubillos, intervened this Wednesday in Miami at a press conference to present the results and report on the company’s strategies for Latin America and the innovations in its product portfolio.
The region is the second fastest growing of sales of Bayer Pharmaceutical, which totaled 16,746 million euros (18,755 million dollars) worldwide, 3.4% more than in 2017.
By areas, growth in sales in the Southern Cone stands out (excluding Brazil), which increased by 20.6%, followed by the Andean Region (7.3%) and Central America and the Caribbean (0.3%).
Brazil, with a growth of 5.1%, and Mexico, with 3.2%, are responsible for 60% of the regional turnover.
The demographic aging in Latin America, as well as the consequences this has on the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, make up a reality for which the multinational founded 120 years ago in Germany, ranging from aspirin to precision oncological medicines is ready, according to both executives.
In Latin America there are currently 76 million people over 60 who represent 10% of the total population, but by 40 or 50 of this century the percentage will have grown geometrically to reach 20%.
60% of people over 60 have at least one chronic degenerative disease.
In 2018 there were one million people in that age group who died from cardiovascular diseases in the region, half of them from heart attacks, and 1.1 million cases of cancer and 600,000 deaths are recorded every year.
“That means there are many unsatisfied medical needs” and that “we have to keep in mind that we are going to have these challenges,” said Magallanes.
In a statement after Efe, the director stressed that collaboration is needed among all health actors (industry, government, insurers, payers and patients) to be synchronized in order to face the consequences of demographic change in a region that until now He has had a broad young base.
In his opinion, it will be important to transfer the teachings and models of regions such as Europe, which have already experienced aging as a society, and also to make a change of priorities in health investments because “the money does not reach”.
To Efe’s questions about the crisis in Venezuela and how it has affected the company, Magallanes stressed that Bayer is one of the few multinationals that continue to operate “in an integral manner” in that country and will continue to do so, because their commitment is to the “Venezuelan patients.”
The production of medicines and their supply continues to function, although they do not have the entire portfolio, due to the problems surrounding importation, he stressed.
Both Magallanes and Castillo stressed the importance of research and development for Bayer, which dedicated 5,200 million euros (5,824 million dollars) in 2018 and some 8,000 employees to that end, and has an important record of external innovation and collaborations
55% of this investment in R & D was in the pharmaceutical division.
Magallanes stresses that in Latin America Argentina stands out as the country that makes the most contribution to Bayer’s research, followed by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
In 2018 Eylea (aflibercrpt, ophthalmological use), Mirena (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) and Xarelto (rivaroxoban, antithrombotic) had high sales indices in Latin America.
Currently Bayer Farmaceutica has 50 research projects underway and of them are in Phase III (studies with patients), eight, which have to do with prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and reduced heart failure, among others. (EFEUSA)
