Four pharmaceutical companies on Thursday announced investments in Mexico of more than 12 billion pesos (US $641.45 million).
Executives from Boehringer Ingelheim, Carnot Laboratorios, Bayer and AstraZeneca outlined the investments at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference.
Boehringer Ingelheim targets production of 5 billion pills per year in CDMX
Boehringer Ingelheim, a German company, intends to invest 3.5 billion pesos ($187.2 million) in Mexico in the coming years.
Juan Augusto Muench Castañeda, the company’s general director in Mexico, said that the outlay will go toward making Boehringer Ingelheim’s tablet production plant in Mexico City “the [company’s] largest in the world.”
From the plant in Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City, “we will supply anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic drugs to the local market and export to more than 40 countries in all the continents of the world,” Muench said.
He said that Boehringer Ingelheim is aiming to increase production at its Xochimilco plant to 5 billion pills annually.
Muench also said that the company’s investment aims to create 1,800 direct jobs and more than 15,000 indirect ones.
Carnot to open new plant in Hidalgo
“Today with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of confidence in Mexico, we would like to announce the expansion and global positioning of Carnot Laboratorios,” said CEO Edmundo Jiménez Luna.
He said that the Mexican company will invest 3.5 billion pesos over the next five years, money that “will generate 600 highly specialized direct jobs and at least 5,000 indirect ones.”
Jiménez said that the investment will go to a new production plant in Villa de Tezontepec, a municipality in the state of Hidalgo.
“It will be a strategic center of pharmaceutical and biotechnological manufacturing with cutting-edge technology,” he said.
Jiménez said that the new plant will have the capacity to export medications to more than 30 countries.
“Carnot is not just a company that works in Mexico, it’s a company that believes in Mexico, in its talent and in its future,” he said.
Bayer to invest 3 billion pesos over 5 years
Manuel Bravo Pereyra, CEO of Bayer in Mexico, said that the company will invest 3 billion pesos over the next five years.
The investment will go to Bayer’s 14 sites in Mexico, according to a slide Bravo presented.
Among the ways in which the investment will be used is to increase the company’s capacity to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients at its plant in Orizaba, Veracruz, and to add production lines for “new medications” at Bayer’s plant in Lerma, México state.
Funds will also go to a plant in Tlaxcala, where Bayer makes biological fungicides.
In addition, Bravo said that Bayer, a German multinational, will triple its investment in clinical studies in Mexico.
“This will allow Mexicans to have access to the most innovative medications more quickly,” he said.
AstraZeneca to invest 2.25 billion pesos over 2 years
Julio Ordaz, CEO of British-Swedish company AstraZeneca in Mexico, said that the company is investing 2.25 billion pesos in Mexico over two years to the end of 2026.
He said that more than 1.4 billion pesos will go to “clinical research” in Mexico, while funds will also be used to expand AstraZeneca’s Global Innovation and Technology Center, located in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco.
In addition, part of the company’s investment will go to the expansion of its medication production plant in Naucalpan, México state.
Ordaz said that the plant produces “essential medications” for ailments such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
He said that AstraZeneca’s investment will create 600 direct jobs and 2,500 indirect ones.
“Today we reaffirm our commitment to Plan México,” Ordaz said, referring to the federal government’s ambitious economic initiative.
Development of Mexico’s pharmaceutical sector a ‘high priority’ for Sheinbaum, says economy minister
The investments announced by Boehringer Ingelheim, Carnot Laboratorios, Bayer and AstraZeneca on Thursday total 12.25 billion pesos (US $656.8 million).
Four other pharmaceutical companies — the Mexican firms Kener, Genbio, Neolpharma and Neolsym — last month announced investments that together totaled more than 13 billion pesos.
Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday that the development of Mexico’s pharmaceutical sector is “a high priority for the president, fundamentally due to the [positive] impact on the health of Mexicans” and the need to be prepared for any future pandemic or other adverse “circumstance” that might occur.
“That’s why, as you have noted, she has placed a lot of emphasis on this sector,” Ebrard said.
Health Minister David Kershenobich asserted that the health sector in Mexico is currently going through “a time of great transformation, supported by the confidence national and international investors have placed in the project of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.”
The investment projects of Mexican and foreign pharmaceutical companies promote innovation, strengthen the Mexican manufacturing industry, expand clinical research capacity and create “new highly specialized jobs, positioning Mexico as a regional leader in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry,” Kershenobich said.
The federal government is seeking to increase domestic production in a range of sectors as part of its Plan México initiative, which also aims to reduce reliance on imports, especially from Asian countries including China.
Mexico News Daily