The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Janaina Tewaney Mencomo, participates in a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Dominican Republic, where she promotes the country as a “pharmaceutical hub” before the foreign ministers of the Andean Community (CAN).
And it is that “with the pharmaceutical hub Panama seeks to leverage this trend and improve the quality and availability of medicines in our market, contribute to the launch of new products, optimize the formation of technical and scientific human capital and enhance the existing synergies within the pharmaceutical sector,” said the Panamanian Foreign Ministry, prior to the arrival of Tewaney at the meeting.
Precisely, among the points that COVID-19 and monkey smallpox have generated in the region, as well as reducing the vulnerability of health systems to future pandemics.”
In that sense, they agreed that “it is necessary to increase investment and cooperation to advance towards universal access to quality health services, medicines and vaccines, as well as strong coordination, cooperation and intersectorality at the international, regional and national levels in health, social, economic and environmental issues,” according to a joint statement from the CAN, released on November 9.
We believe in integration and Panama understands itself as a country at the service of the growth and development of the region and the Central American system,” said the Panamanian Foreign Minister upon her arrival at the meeting in the Dominican Republic.
The Council of Foreign Ministers of the SICA is a mechanism made up of: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the
The intention to do so originated even before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to records, in 2017, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Onudi) emerged as an ally in the project.
Onudi, which has experience supporting the creation of pharmaceutical hubs in countries in Asia and Africa, at the time, spoke with Panama about the possibility of creating “a strategic partnership program to strengthen” the country’s logistics platform, through the creation of an “industrial pharmaceutical
Thus, on December 7, 2021, Onudi presented Panama with an action plan for the possible development of a pharmaceutical hub in the country, which seeks to generate “added value” and “attract” foreign manufacturers of generic medicines who wish to establish their manufacturing base in Panama for the region.
The so-called “Strategy and Action Plan for the Development of Areas of Opportunity in the Pharmaceutical Sector of Panama, in December 2020.
The Opportunities and limitations
distribution of added value; drug testing (clinical trials); and national manufacture of medicines are the three areas of opportunity on which the Onudi viability project for the development of the pharmaceutical sector of Panama is based.
And among the infrastructure limitations was identified: lack of pharmaceutical professionals; delays in the registration of medicines, particularly for the registration of new drug formulations by local laboratories; and weaknesses
full employment of pharmaceutical professionals in Panama.” But, “the supply of industrial pharmacists (professionals) is practically non-existent.”
There is no specific data on the number of pharmacists active in the country, since the recertification of these professionals is only voluntary, and not all do so. Only about 100 new pharmacists are certified each year, according to data from the National College of Pharmacists. In addition, the professionals of this branch who work are lost to the labor force due to natural reduction and retirements.
About the weaknesses in the public procurement system of medicines, although the Comptroller’s Office carries out detailed procedural checks on all aspects of the bidding process followed by the Social Security Fund (CSS), and the details about the procedures are also loaded in Panama Compra, ultimately, “
Data on CSS operations is in a confusing state of disorder. There is no definitive source of information within CSS about how much money was spent to buy which drug and in what mode of purchase, and in these circumstances, it is not even possible to perform an analysis of the performance of CSS purchases, because there is no definitive data available on CSS purchases,” the document emphasizes.
An interim measure to alleviate the restriction of supply of pharmacists for the local drug