Los Tuxtlas have documented several hundred medicinal plant species. International drug companies have made numerous expeditions into the Sierras to find new pharmaceuticals. And the Popolucas in the Sierra Santa Marta forlornly want a piece of that action. Meanwhile, Catemaco City, Veracruz has about 1 pharmacy per 1000 people, selling the ready to go, packaged drug versions.
After petroleum, mind blowing drugs, terrorism intervention and automobiles, the medicinal drug industry is the most influential business in the world. Huge sums are expanded on research and testing to bring a new drug to market, at which time a branded drug receives 20 years patent protection and its sales price is pitched to the maximum profit.
The cost to 95% of the human population is usually outrageous, and sick and dying people worldwide have to wait 20 years for their chance at an affordable version of that patented drug.
After 20 years, the drug loses its patent protection and any pharmaceutical company can then copy the drug and sell their generic (not patented) version. Usually the drug’s price drops to near its actual cost, which is usually less than a few pesos per pill or tablet.
But that is true only in countries that adhere to international patent rights. Many do not. And counterfeit copies soon appear from many countries. Mexico adheres to international patent law but is also known as a source of much of the counterfeit drug trade in the US.
Mexican health care is split into a private and public sector. Drug pricing and availability was controlled by the usual handful of Mexican oligarchs in bed with international drug giants and with very little desire to provide generic products. Along came Dr. Simi in 1997 with a chain of cheap generic drug stores, along with some changes in Mexican prescription laws, and started a generic drug revolution. By now Dr. Simi is one of the richest men in Mexico, and drug costs have plummeted.
Effficacy of generic drugs as compared to branded drugs has been studied various times, usually paid for giant drug companies. Yes, some advanced composition drugs have shown different effects, but in general, if the chemical composition and quality of ingredients is equal, generic drugs are as effective as patented ones. The few studies demonstrating otherwise have and are being used by drug giants to frighten the public off generic drugs and preserve
their profits in their versions. Mexico is fighting this battle and has implemented laws to oblige public sector doctors to precribe both generic and patented drugs if available. The drug industry is fighting back with high priced private brand generic drugs, which allow pharmacists to double their profits. The physician sector is not immune and known to be receiving kickbacks to prescribe high priced private brand generic drugs.
I fell victim to this fraud recently, because I left my reading classes at home. A doctor prescribed me Italnik, and after my third try, I found a pharmacy who actually stocked it. I then returned home and read the box. Ciproflaxine it said in fine print, made by a small Mexican drug company recently purchased by an international drug giant. And I was about ready to explode because I knew the price of Cipro thoroughly because of former stock ownership of the generic manufacturer Teva/Ivax .
Cipro was originally produced by Bayer AG of Germany and generated several billion dollars in annual sales at prices of more than 4 dollars per tablet. The drug lost patent protection several years ago and is now produced by dozens of generic manufacturers and sells for as little as 25 cents per pill.
So now here I sit in beautiful downtown Catemaco, and like a dummy, I get cheated!
Farmacia Roma charged me 196 pesos for 8 generic cipro pills, named Italnik, at 24.5 pesos per pill.The prescription was for 2 per day for 10 days, total of 20 pills. Thankfully the farmacia’s sales staff does not read well and only sold me 8.
After I climbed off the roof, where I had exploded to, I went to visit Dr. Simi. His Farmacia Similares charged me 70 pesos for 12 cipro pills, named Bacproin, at 5.83 pesos per pill.
To double check, I visited Farmapronto, across the street from Farmacia Roma, who offered me a product named Ciproina at the same price as Dr. Simi.
To be fair, I did not return to Farmacia Roma to ask whether they had a cheaper version!
The Moral of the Story?
1. Carry your eye glasses with you!
2. Do not trust your Mexico doctor!
Without going into too much detail, can anyone imagine the impact of overpriced drugs on more than half the population in Catemaco which earns less than 10 dollars a day? I do not have to imagine; I had to advance money to many of my workers for drug purchases, which went to fatten some pharmacist because those poor workers all “KNOW!!” that generic drugs are not as good as brand name drugs.
