Argentina's pharmaceutical business environment still impacted by IP deficiencies, notes BMI

The Argentinean pharmaceutical market is expected to have declined in 2009, with the market shrinking almost 10% in US dollar terms to reach ARS12.47 billion Argentinean pesos ($3.37 billion) for the year. Through to 2014, Business Monitor International forecasts compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4% in local currency terms, with the market value topping 25.52 billion ($5.55 billion). A slower growth in US dollars is precluded by the weak peso, which is expected to continue depreciating in the coming years from its high of below three to a dollar prior to 2006.

Meanwhile, in BMIs Business Environment Ratings (BER) table for first-quarter 2010, Argentina improved its position by one place and is now ranked sixth in the Americas region as it emerges from economic downturn.
Although the long-term fundamentals of the market remain strong, Argentina's pharmaceutical business environment still suffers from a number of intellectual property (IP) environment deficiencies, including a massive patent application backlog and the lack of protection of undisclosed test data and other information. The problems are compounded by the involvement of high-profile individuals and state officials in the so-called drug 'mafia.'

According to ambito.com, in January 2010, a federal judge ordered that the former manager of the medicine regulatory body within the Ministry of Health be retained in prison, while the case against him is being heard. The manager, as well as a number of other officials (including the owners of the drugstore chains BioDrugs SA and San Javier), stands accused of mismanagement of government tenders and of the knowingly trafficking adulterated medicines for the treatment of HIV and cancer.