Mexican state crisis in the production of drugs | Article Mario Luis Fuentes

Mario Luis Fuentes

In the world after pandemia Covid-19, the ability of states to produce their own medicines and forces of vaccines to cease to rise as simply industrial and commercial policy to become an imperative of their sanitary sovereignty. Nevertheless, Mexico travels at this critical moment, not quite holding to the lessons that the pandemic forced us to study.

Despite the destructive effect of the virus, which overwhelmed and almost delivered most healthcare systems in the countries of medium and poor income, the restoration of healthcare costs was very slow and unequal. In Mexico, this restoration was not only slow, but also asymmetric in relation to the countries of the OECR member. Moreover, the Mexican state, by the same, resigned to build scientific, technological and industrial capabilities necessary for the integration of the right to public health.

The World Health Organization report (2024) shows an alarming global trend: for the first time since 2000, healthcare expenses have fallen in real terms within 2022. In Mexico, this autumn was felt with more rudeness, since state investments in the public health care not only not only returned to prepaid state expenses. This silent alienation is part of the health care policy that privileges local imports, the reaction to the prevention and outsourcing of strategic functions for private entities.

From political economy, this phenomenon should be analyzed as an expression of structural weakening of the state against the interests of the global, regional and national industry. In this logic, the decision not to invest in the national production of drugs and vaccines, enhances technological dependence, which jeopardizes the country’s autonomy in health matters. Indeed, a Mexican case is paradigmatic: while countries such as India, Cuba or Brazil have strengthened their endogenous abilities of biof products, Mexico closed plants, dismantled institutions and strategic projects, such as mass production of local developed vaccines.

This refusal has numerous consequences. Firstly, this prevents an effective reaction to arising sanitary threats, regardless of whether they are an epidemic, pandemia or are obtained from crimes such as bioterrorism. Secondly, he puts Mexico in a vulnerable position in the face of fragile global supply chains, as evidenced by the pandemic with the accumulation of vaccines and medical equipment and consumables. Thirdly, this limits the country’s ability to fulfill its obligations on international solidarity in the field of healthcare.

Even more serious is that this lack of national infrastructure directly affects the reduction of diseases and death that can be avoided. Access to quality drugs and biology is an indispensable condition to guarantee universal, fair and decent health. However, when governments cannot ensure the timely availability of these important materials, the breakdown of attention is immortalized, and the structural exclusion of millions of people deepens.

It is put on the map on the map, in addition to the health of the population, it is the very legitimacy of the state as a guarantor of fundamental rights and their ability to generate a sense of belonging and national identity around a common project that can protect the health and lives of people. A change in this trajectory requires a decisive commitment to restoring public capabilities for the production of drugs and vaccines; This implies investments in infrastructure, strengthening national scientific and technological institutions, the creation of strategic alliances with national and international state entities and, above all, puts health as a common good over the logic of the market.

The rejection of state ability to produce drugs not only limited the autonomy of the country’s health, but also deepened a specific humanitarian crisis: a chronic lack of main drugs. In recent years, Mexico has encountered repeating episodes of the lack of pediatric, antiretroviral, immunosuppressive drugs and the treatment of rare diseases, among many others. This situation does not respond exclusively to the lack of resources, but to a poor consolidated procurement strategy, erroneous logistics planning and the absence of a jointly and territorially balanced distribution system. The result is a fragmented, opaque and very vulnerable supply chain for any external or administrative violation.

Especially anxious affects this crisis on girls and boys suffering from serious or chronic diseases. For example, the lack of oncological drugs was documented by civil organizations, media and international organizations. Given this situation, the systematic denial of the problem with the authorities, added to the criminalization of complaints, not only invisible suffering of these minors, but also represents the form of structural violence carried out by inaction. In this context, the right to health of children, enshrined by international treaties signed by Mexico, becomes a paradigmatic, unfulfilled promise.

In order for the universal coverage of health to be a reality, and not by an empty statement, it is important to restore the public network of drug supply, which are effective, transparent and focused on the needs of the population. This implies a deep reconstruction of the institutional architecture responsible for the planning, purchase and distribution of drugs, with an approach that combines both the criteria for distribution justice and territorial justice.

He also calls on to resume national state production as a guarantee of a strategic situation, especially for “orphaned” drugs for the market. Indeed, effective and fair access to treatment methods cannot depend on the geographical position, the socio -economic level or the appearance of the media of the disease. Ultimately, guaranteeing that the proposal is an ethical and political obligation of the Mexican state.

In the world, intersecting repeated crises of health, and the impact of climate change on public healthcare, scientific and technological sovereignty in health issues is a strategic need for the state.

Mexico should decide whether it will continue depending on the “goodwill” of other governments or criteria of actions and priorities of transnational pharmaceuticals, which are usually extremely aggressive, or, as has been done, in other countries the task of creating a reliable, solidarity and autonomous system, which is suitable for threats of the 21st century.

Researcher in Pered-UNAM