Today was another busy day beginning with a tour of the pharmaceutical facility Andrómaco and ending at the ESMA Museum. We also had a delicious lunch in San Telmo and were able to walk around the shops for a bit.
Andrómaco is a pharmaceutical facility located in Buenos Aires. They produce mainly creams and ointments to be used on the skin. Many of their products are cosmetic, but they still do produce some prescription pharmaceuticals. Andrómaco does well as a company and facility, but they still face some challenges. First, they are always trying to be as efficient as possible to maintain a large profit margin. In one of the assembly line rooms, we were shown a bulletin board with graphs and tables and numbers all over it. This board showed data from production, and the purpose of the board was so that the operators in the room could take initiative and figure out the best way to increase efficiency, and therefore profit. Reaching maximum efficiency can be a challenge because there is only so many resources, both capital and non-capital, that can be utilized by Andrómaco while ensuring that they are still making money. Another challenge Andrómaco faces is competition. Because they sell mostly cosmetic products, there are likely many other brands that make the same products. For example, one of Andrómaco’s most popular products is Hipoglós, which is a Neosporin-like product. This type of product is probably common among other pharmaceutical brands as well, so there are likely multiple options to choose from when at the pharmacy. What this means is that they have to compete with other companies for consumers to buy their products over another brands. This goes hand in hand with the efficiency of the factory, because they need to stay efficient so that they aren’t wasting money when they are potentially losing out on money due to their competitors.
Argentina’s pharmaceutical industry as a whole also faces a fair share of challenges. One main challenge is inflation and how it affects the cost of production versus the cost of selling the finished products. Many of the ingredients used in pharmaceuticals are purchased from other countries simply because they cannot be found in Argentina. The cost of production for the pharmaceuticals is increased because it is expensive to import these ingredients. Due to the inflation in Argentina, the revenue from the finished pharmaceutical products does not make up for the expensive importing costs the way the industry would like. Another challenge faced by Argentina’s pharmaceutical industry is the fact that the Ministry of Health’s standards are lower than many other countries’, so Argentinian pharmaceutical companies cannot export their finished products to be sold in other countries.
Tomorrow is the busiest day yet with a guest lecturer about Argentina’s healthcare system, visiting two community health centers, and visiting a palliative care facility. Check back tomorrow to read all about it!
*Picture shows the sign in the main lobby of Andrómaco.