Brazil's government will use regulations and financial muscle to blunt foreign takeovers of its drug makers, the daily newspaper Valor Economico is reporting. Recent examples include Sanofi-Aventis's $870 million deal to buy Medley, Brazil's largest generic maker, and Pfizer's $525 million deal for Neo Quimica, another generic company.
But the Health Ministry plans to sign a number of partnerships between state-controlled labs and private-sector drugmakers before year's end, to produce medicines jointly and reduce dependence on foreign rivals, says Reinaldo Guimaraes, the ministry's undersecretary for strategic purchases, science and technology, according to Reuters, citing the Brazilian newspaper.
Guimaraes tells Valor "the ministry is worried with the possible denationalization of the sector, and that it is even more important to see that the country is a victim of a speculative attack, because of the success" of its pharma industry. And so the government, which spends billions of dollars annually on purchases of medicines and supplies for the production of drugs, will use its bargaining power to curb foreign presence in the market, according to the report.
He highlighted a recent accord signed between the government and GlaxoSmithKline to include the Synflorix pneumococcal vaccine in the nation's vaccination plan, which includes technology transfers and the creation of a research and development center to develop vaccines for malaria and other tropical diseases. the newspaper reports. Regulatory changes, including easier rules on patents of so-called biogeneric drugs, are under consideration, Guimaraes was quoted as saying by Valor.