Today we got the chance to visit a factory for a local pharmaceuitcal company in Buenos Aires, Andromaco. It was very interesting to see how the factory operated from making their creams up to packaging them for distribution. Despite its appearance, Andromaco and other pharmaceutical companies in Argentina face several challenges. One challenge Andromaco faced was being environmentally friendly and not polluting the air. Part of Andromaco’s production process had to be done in a separate, enclosed room so that the outside air was not contaminated while making their product. Many of the processes that went into the final product for Andromaco required great sterilization. At the factory we were required to cover ourselves in order to prevent any hair from going into the product. Sterilization as a challenge was also seen when we saw the water purifiers. Powering those machines non stop is definitely a high cost for the company, but they must do it until they can find a more cost effective way, along with finding more technology they produce themselves. Andromaco is seen mostly as a domestic pharmaceutical company, with 90 percent of its product sold locally and only 10 percent sold throughout Latin America. Andromaco faces the challenge of globally expanding, and if they attempted to do so they would not be able to compete in an American market perhaps. Andromaco claimed that they did not participate in a more global market because they would not sell as much product and would be wasting time in those markets. Andromaco also faces the challenge of competing with many other pharmaceutical companies in Argentina. When I asked an employee if there were several companies in Argentina producing several products he said yes. I was also shocked to hear that a company as impressive looking as Andromaco was only considered the 10th most successful and recognized pharmaceutical company in Argentina. As for pharmaceutical companies in Argentina as a whole, they face challenges of having to import several raw materials and machines while dealing with the inflation and low value of their peso making these products more expensive. In Argentina, most pharmaceutical companies import raw materials from Brazil and the US and get their technology from Europe. The companies end up having to pay much more for these than they would if the technology and resources were Argentinian, however these resources cannot be found in Argentina. The pharmaceutical industry is also heavily regulated which can pose challenges to companies. Every time a company wants to make a new product they must get all resources approved, the process must be approved, and finally the product must be approved. Regulations are also imposed on Argentinian pharmaceutical companies if they wish to send products to countries with more strict health regulations like the United States or Germany. Pharmaceutical companies in Argentina like Andromaco are often challenged by competition of other countries on a global scale and the several regulations of global health that stand today.