Mexico face an escalation of Prices in medications which contrasts with the reduction that is recorded in USA.
By monitoring the 55 main cities in the country, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) found that these products 5.7% were more expensive during August and it is the greatest rise in the last 14 months.
The medications have been going up faster than the national inflationwhose annual rate reached 3.6% in August.
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Sicking pockets. Source: National Institute of Statistics and Geography and Department of the United States Labor
Those destined for the treatment of diabetes They headed the increases, costing 9.3% more than a year ago; followed by the contraceptive y hormonalwith an increase of 9.1%, and gastrointestinal8%.
The most serious problem in prices It is its variability, since Mexico lacks a Control system As in other countries, said Luis Fernando Hernández Lezama, president of the Technical Committee of Soy Patient, a civil association that promotes awareness about the importance of strengthening the health sector.
He set the clopidogrel as an example, which has a minimum price to the public of 98.35 pesos and a maximum 432.95, whose variation of 340% causes the Pharmacies sell the product at very different prices and in a Private Hospital It can be even more expensive, because no one has control.
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From his point of view, the Promotation of medications It is also due to the privatization of health, given the weakening of public system over the last years.
“He shortage In public hospitals it remains unresolved, because the problem is not whether they buy medicine or not, but there is the required care of diseases, ”he said in an interview with The Universal.
“They destroyed the health systemNnterior, who had many failures, and now only put patches that do not solve the main problem, ”added Luis Fernando Hernández Lezama, who was also deputy technical secretary of the Health Cabinet in the Presidency of the Republic between 1984 and 1989.
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Considered that the population is buying medications in the Private sector With the help of the highest minimum wage, as well as the Social programs.
Unlike Mexico, medicine 0.2% were reduced on average during August USA, According to the records of the Department of Labor.
The last time that medicine They dropped in price in the American Union was in December 2021. In particular, the products that do not require recipe decreased 2.4%, while the rest rose 0.9%.
This is because the US market It is more competitive than the Mexican and Medicare, a public program of older adults that acquires large volumes of medicines to grant them at minor prices in the neighboring country, explained Hernández Lezama.
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“He Medicare He began to set price stops to medicines, after negotiating with laboratories last year, ”said also the professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and member of the Digna Health Advisory Council.
He explained that countries with economies In developing roads, such as Mexico, they offer Pharmaceuticals Multinationals higher gain margins than the American Union, which allocates lower resources depending on the size of its economy.
Last Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that the medicine that do not occur in the United States will pay a 100% tariff from October 1, excluding Companies They are building a plant in the US territory.
Hernández Lezama, who was also a member of the negotiating team of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAF), today t-MEChe estimated that tariffs will have a marginal impact on Mexico, as the treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada offers exemptions in generic medicines.
He stressed that American Union It has the mercado bigger of medicine In the world, whose value is around the billion dollars and its national production covers about 40% of its consumption, since the rest matters, especially from Europe, India and China.
