The theft in medicines has led to the loss of approximately USD2.7 million and, also contributes to the rise of illegal trade of these products in the open market (street vendors and internet). About 4% of the medicines sold in Mexico are irregular (1.5% are for sale on the Internet and 2.5% in markets on wheels or illegal establishments), all of which represents approximately USD440 million a year.

The Unefarm, the authorities of the Federal Commission for the Protection of Health Risks (Cofepris) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) work in coordination to report the theft of lots of merchandise and detection of irregular market or web pages without the corresponding certificate. The Unefarm stated that from 2013 to date the federal authorities have suspended about 17,000 illegal advertising advertisements linked to health, of which 67% are on the internet.

The organization mentioned the existence of an international agreement between health agencies of Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay and Central America, in coordination with Spain, to combat this type of sites and, other agreements with portals such as Free Market and Second Hand for monitoring, in collaboration with the Cyber ​​Police.

In the last year alone there were at least 50 robberies and assaults to pharmacies in the eastern area of ​​the state of Mexico and Mexico City, reason why the entrepreneurs have had to resort to the purchase of Insurance policies, alarms and closed circuits of surveillance, but has been insufficient.

Aristeguinoticias

Leading the trend were products related to artificial respiration; massage equipment; instruments and equipment using UV, visible or IR optical radiations; as well as CT Scanners, X-ray machines, radiography/radiotherapy equipment. In number of units, all these categories demonstrated a CAGR of over 20% from 2014 to 2016f.

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The NIH forms a very prominent part of health system and provide services with high quality services for free. Mexico occupies the 29^th position in scientific production globally and second in Latin America. UNAM is the most important academic center of the country with 4,598 researchers in the National System of Researchers (SNI), followed by the CONACYT research centers with 1,661.

The NIH and the Hospitals of High Specialty have 1,188 SNI researchers. The formation of the “National Consortium for Research and Innovation in Translational Medicine” will allow a greater involvement of UNAM, CONACYT and the health sector to move from basic research to clinical applications and technological developments.

Inter-institutional cooperation becomes the backbone of this consortium. Transnational medicine was defined as medicine/technology where one can transfer from one place to another. The NIH will be conducting most of the clinical research and teaching supported by UNAM and CONACYT.

The consortium will also be supported by trusts, foundations and companies. Within this framework, awards were given to 10 distinguished researchers from the health system.