Latin America; a key market of interest for the healthcare industry

Despite strong differences among individual countries in their approaches to healthcare and development, as a region, Latin America remains a key market of interest for the pharmaceutical and medtech industry. Local demographics are favorable to medicines and medical devices due to a growing working age population with the disposable income to invest in improved health status.  Most of the region’s governments are committed to the principle of universal health coverage, although the details are often obscured by political conflicts over affordability, transparency, and rule of law. Latin America also faces pushback against its longstanding commitment to global integration as the US and Europe pivot back toward an inward-looking policy agenda that could frustrate efforts to upgrade and harmonize national regulatory standards on issues ranging from drug safety surveillance to intellectual property IP. Many experts spotlight the importance of macro-economic trends in shaping the local environment for innovation in healthcare delivery and financing; after all, medicines are entirely dependent on investment, particularly in Latin America, from the private side.