Mexican Generics List Next Month

Mexico's Health Ministry is to publish in December a list of medicineswhich may be sold as generics, according to pharmaceutical industry officials. Negotiations with Mexican manufacturers are almost finished, according to Jaime Santos, director of the country's Pharmaceutical Research Industry Association, who added that the list would more likely be available in January.

For the last few months, the Health Ministry has been running an advertising campaign to try to get Mexicans to use generic medicines, and it has also reformed the Law on Public Health to make generic products more widely available. Several major multinational drug companies have claimed that the new regulations will hurt their operating margins, reports Dow Jones (Marketletter November 10) and, pointing out that at present only 20 drug products are sold in Mexico under their generic names, Mr Santos questioned why the Ministry was asking consumers to use generics which are not even on the market.

Manufacturers' Interests "Are Delaying Consensus" The commercial interests of pharmaceutical manufacturers based in Mexico are holding up a consensus for regulations for making the domestic generic drug market operational, according to Octavio Rivera Serrano, Secretary of the Public Health Council. While legislation establishing a generic market has been passed, there is disagreement in the public and private health sectors over the obligation of doctors to prescribe by generic name or allow a prescription to be filled generically, it was noted.