The event, headed by the president of the Senate Health Committee, Francisco Salvador López Brito (Partido Acción Nacional or PAN), continues to promote generic or bioequivalent medications, given the safe option these represent for access to innovative treatments. According to the lawmaker, patients with non-communicable chronic diseases are the primary beneficiaries and these advances optimize the potential of resources.

The event was called “Benefits and Opportunities in Mexico for Biosimilar Medications,” and it was within this context that López Brito emphasized the need to analyze the regulatory framework given the complexity of the issue. Advances in the field pose a significant challenge for the Mexican market and health system, which would suffer the consequences of price increases for these products.

The immediate effects will have repercussions on the prevention, diagnosis, control, and treatment of these conditions, making it essential to have different legislation to govern traditional medications. In this sense, it should be noted that the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios or Cofepris) is already seeing a 35% application of breakthrough substances derived from biosimilar molecules.

The PAN member emphasized the increase in biologic therapies generated by these developments in response to the high demand for these goods and facilitating the inclusion of the treatments. According to Julio Sánchez y Tépoz, the Cofepris Commissioner, the lack of patents is no less of a factor, facilitating marketing and distribution and generating savings in terms of prices, while at the same time decreasing hospitalization costs.

The Health Secretariat official explained that, given their efficacy and efficiency, these drugs are the medicine of the future, although the barriers to access experienced by the Mexican market due to a lack of regulations governing biotechnological and biosimilar products need to be addressed. There are currently 20 more developments of this type in progress, which will require clear regulations in order to be distributed through pharmacies.