Agefinsa, Servicios Tecnicos Medicos, Macrotech Farmaceutica and J.I. Cohen are some of the companies that during the first quarter of the year won contracts to provide medicines and pharmaceutical products to public health institutions in the region.
The "Interactive Public Procurement Information System" of the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData provides interesting data on the companies that in the first quarter of 2020 were favored with contracts to provide pharmaceutical products and medical supplies to the various Ministries of Health and Social Security entities in the Central American countries.
A study by the Universidad de Costa Rica notes that one company controls the distribution of 80% of drugs sold, with price differences of up to 1,000%.
An article in Nacion.com reports that there is "little or no competition in the private sector of medicine, product of an industry that is "highly concentrated", causing Costa Rica to have higher drug prices compared to other Central American countries."
Corporation Cefa-Fischel is gaining more and more of the market share in Costa Rica, with tactics that are being denounced as anti-competitive business practices.
An article by César Quirós Brenes in Elfinancierocr.com reports on up to what point Cefa-Fischel Corporation has reached in the drug retail sector in Costa Rica: "Of the 950 active pharmacies as of 15 June, 67 (7% of total) are Fischel stores.
Before the arrival of new competitors, pharmaceutical companies are reviewing their strategies for the year.
New premises, training of members and improving operating processes are some of the tactics that will be implemented in the pharmaceutical industry around the country.
In recent years the pharmacy market has shown significant changes, including a sharp increase in competition and lower prices.
The pharmaceutical group Socofar acquired 50% of the Costa Rican operation Cefa Corporation.
The alliance between the two companies will allow the financing Cefa’s expansion to Central America and the Caribbean. Among the plans is the recovery of the Honduran and Salvadoran market and consolidation of operations in Nicaragua
"Arnaldo Garnier, chairman of the board of Cefa, affirmed that the agreement will also allow the Costa rican company, which is 56 years old and with annual sales exceeding $250 million, to manufacture a private Socofar brand for a line of personal care products and strengthen its drug segment (institutional market), in which Chile is a leader in its country, where it has operated for 40 years and has annual sales of around $1,000 million", notes Elfinancierocr.com
Walmart and CEFA trigger increased competition among drugstore chains by seeking to gain market share.
Corporación CEFA, owner of Fischel, Catedral and Farmatica, has announced that it is to open more stores in the rest of the year with one for Escazu in November and another for Limón in December.
Meanwhile, Aquileo Sánchez corporate communication director for Walmart did not mention how many new drugstores it plans to open but stated that its future supermarkets will each include a pharmacy. This corporation owns 158 stores in Costa Rica, spread across different brands.
Through a new division, DIPO Pharmaceutics (Dipo Farmacéutica), the distribution company will serve the pharmaceutics industry.
DIPO has warehouses in Guanacaste, San Carlos, Pérez Zeledón, Pococí and San José. It currently serves 11.000 businesses and plans to serve 1.000 more with the new division.
From Elfinancierocr.com: “Dipo will enter the highly competitive market of medicine distribution.
In Costa Rica, three companies are using the electronic invoices system: Automercado, Cefa and Softland.
This regulation was proposed by GS1, together with the Treasury Ministry.
"Softland (formerly Exactus), included an electric invoices module in their ERP system one year ago, and started using it with their customers", reports Elfinancierocr.com. "According to them, they managed to increase collection and reduced credit notes in 50%".
U.S. universities are exporting entrepreneurship and innovation know-how to Latin America.
In a world dominated by change, Latin American companies must solve their lack of entrepreneurship culture and innovation strategies, to avoid being left behind by global competition.
John Trapani is the director of A.B. Freeman School of Business, from the University of Tulane.
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