How Unexplored are Brazil's Pharmaceutical Industries?

Brazil is known to be the largest country in South America and the fifth largest globally, with having world's sixth largest population. Brazil's Pharmaceutical Manufacturing scenery has grown significantly over the past few years. It is considered suitable to serve other emerging markets of South America, driven by increasing household incomes and demand for treating other Infectious diseases.

About 66% of companies with a Brazilian manufacturing site are domestically owned. There are three US-based companies with a manufacturing presence in Brazil: Catalent (Somerset, New Jersey), Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Massachusetts) and Merieux NutriSciences (Chicago, Illinois), all Contract Manufacturing Organisations (CMOS). However, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and EMA-approved locations are only present in Brazil's eastern states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Additionally, Brazilian Pharmaceutical production sites are involved in producing Covid-19 vaccines and therapy manufacturing. It was noticed that on the 9th of May in the recent year, Merck & Co (Kenilworth, New Jersey) entered into an agreement with Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) for the manufacturing of the Molnupiravir a vaccine used against Covid-19 antiviral. These Large Brazilian pharma companies are playing a significant role in distributing Covid-19 vaccines to all the Latin America.

Besides that, of Covid-19, other infectious diseases, including dengue fever, represent a significant threat to Brazilian public health. The mosquito-borne virus is now considered the leading cause of death in some Latin American and Asian countries. There is a considerable necessity for dengue fever as no antiviral treatment is marketed to date, and there is only one approved vaccine for this—Sanofi's (Paris, France) Dengvaxia. Also, Brazil's large geriatric population and rising middle-class citizens are expected to increase the demand for age-related sickness treatments related to oncology and hypertension, which will fuel the growing domestic pharma production in the upcoming months.

Furthermore, International companies investing in the emerging market of Brazilian pharmaceutical manufacturing might witness a higher return on investment than developed market equivalents if they compete with local manufacturers to supply Brazil's growing demand and the greater South American region.