PANAMA

During the second half of August, the Technical Board that debates possible reforms to Law 1/2001 on medicines and other products for human health and to the Law on Public Contracting, met with the University of Panama, representatives of patients with chronic diseases and the private pharmaceutical sector. The President of the Health Committee, Daniel Ramos Tuñón (PRD – ruling party), indicated that by the second half of September they would have the report with the inputs collected to advance in the construction of a new Medications Law. On the other hand, on August 31, the President, Laurentino Cortizo, informed that they are analyzing the feasibility of promoting measures to position Panama as a regional pharmaceutical hub, which could happen in the medium term.

The entities participating in the meetings of the Technical Board agreed on the need to seek solutions to the problem of the high cost and shortage of medicines. Thus, the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, Marcela Galindo, stated that they identified excessively long processes for purchasing and explained that “in general, the entire logistic supply chain must be analyzed, reviewed and optimized to find the critical points and opportunities for improvement”. The Health Committee indicated that the contributions will not be published until the final report of the round table is presented.

On the other hand, according to the Executive Branch, the efforts to position Panama as a regional pharmaceutical hub will focus on areas such as value-added distribution, clinical trials and national drug manufacturing. Thus, they indicated that the objective is to attract foreign generic drug manufacturers to set up their regional production base in Panama. It also contemplates the possibility of providing assistance to local laboratories so that the country can obtain a better participation in the international market.