Increased demand for ophthalmic treatment attracts investments

The ageing of the population of Latin America attracts the attention of the pharmaceutical industry by the potential growth in demand mainly of medicines in areas affected by this demographic change. " The area of Ophthalmology has a great potential for growth on the continent, behind only cancer and diabetes treatments. With the population getting older, the demand will grow even more in the future, "says the Vice President of Mundipharma in Latin America, Hugo Saavedra. The company entered into a partnership with Novartis for the marketing of eight drugs from ophthalmic area . "Are products manufactured by Novartis and represent the beginning of an expansion in Brazil and also in Latin America," he explains. The Executive claims that Mundipharma's role will be to promote, market and distribute national territory the medicines to treat eye infections, conjunctivitis and pre-and postsurgical medications. "We enter the area of ophthalmology in 2016, focused on medicines directed to glaucoma. The partnership was established to expand our portfolio, "explains. Saavedra account that the area of ophthalmology have 50% representation for Mundipharma in Latin America. "We will invest to increase our sales by 30%. Hopefully this increase of our revenues in the area fold portfolio, "says. Novartis has two plants in Brazil: São Paulo (SP), where it produces medicines for the treatment of glaucoma and post-surgical, and in Cambé (PR), dedicated to the manufacture of generics. At the end of last year, the company unveiled plans to invest $1 billion in R clinical studies in Brazil until 2022. Expectations Saavedra reveals that Mundipharma expects greater economic stability in Brazil in 2019. "There's been a change in the political scenario, some sectors are still changing, but there are more clearly than last year, which brings more confidence to the company to invest in the country." He also expects less variation of the dollar. "The exchange rate is always taken into account in planning. Last year, we saw the impact that this brought instability to import. For 2019, I understand that this situation will be better. " The Executive explained that the different tax rates in tax on transactions involving the movement of goods and services (ICMS) in units of the country brought impact to the company's activities. "In 2018, we change an operation from São Paulo to Goiás. We have to get where are the best opportunities. " Saavedra qualifies as positive the year 2018. "We grew 20% in Brazil and had improved the performance of all areas, with product launches." He reveals that the company is expecting to record various medicines in accordance with the needs caused by population aging occurring in the region. "In the future, we will bring these innovative products." In a recent interview to the DCI, the Director of government relations and corporate communications at Novartis, John Sanchez, also pointed out a good year to Novartis. "We grew up in the same market, around 10%. Considering the economic situation, 2018 was very good, "evaluated the Executive. He noted that the performance was driven by the introduction of new products and revision of some business. "The outstanding specialities were products for treating arthritis, psoriasis, cardiovascular and some releases of Oncology." The company also has positive prospects for next year. "We will launch several products, among them a new biological medicinal product for prevention of migraine."