© International Trade Centre, International Trade Forum
- Issue 2/2004
A niche in the market
Small firms in the pharmaceutical sector are often well placed
to satisfy demand for generic drugs, an area not always of interest
to large suppliers of research-based products. However, for small
firms to stand their ground they have to be efficient. They need to
adopt the same competitiveness strategy as the large companies:
economies of scale. As these aren't often found at the national
level, firms need to look regionally for strategic alliances. ITC
is helping small pharmaceutical firms and those in related sectors
to find partners, through programmes such as LatinPharma.
Matching firms
The LatinPharma programme is creating links between companies in
the sector, across national borders. It covers straightforward
buying and selling arrangements, but also business-to business
collaboration for technology transfer, product quality and
packaging improvement, and distribution arrangements. Through
buyers/sellers meetings, companies start working together and
become more competitive.
New opportunities
ITC provides information to the sector about new business
opportunities, such as in traditional medicines. Through
collaboration with academia and industry experts, insight is
provided into new drugs and issues related to intellectual property
rights.
ITC at UNCTAD XI
LatinPharma 2004 - 9-12 June. ITC and
its partners in Brazil are organizing a LatinPharma event during
UNCTAD's Rio Trade Week in Rio de Janeiro. It includes a business
matchmaking forum, information sessions with industry experts and a
preparatory e-conference. For details, see the web site (http://www.latinpharma.net/expo2004).
For more information, contact Emmanuel Barreto, ITC Trade
Promotion Adviser, at barreto@intracen.org