Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/07/2013 -- Commercial incentives for foreign drugmakers to expand in the Central American pharmaceutical market are limited by the region's relatively low per capita pharmaceutical spending and market growth. However, the heavy reliance on imported medicine in the region provides revenuegenerating opportunities for generic drugmakers from neighbouring Latin American countries and India. We believe that Costa Rica will continue to attract investment as a regional pharmaceutical production hub. We also highlight that Panama can be a premier country in the region for foreign drugmakers to expand their presence.

Headline Expenditure Projections

- Pharmaceuticals: US$3.4bn in 2012 to US$3.6bn in 2013; +5.5% in US dollar terms. Our forecast has been revised slightly downwards since Q213 due to new historical data.
- Healthcare: US$15.0bn in 2012 to US$16.3bn in 2013; +8.5% in US dollar terms. Our forecast has been revised upwards since Q213 due to improved historical data.

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Risk/Reward Ratings: In BMI's Q313 Pharmaceutical Risk/Reward Ratings (RRRs), we have re-weighted the RRR components to improve the tool, and adjusted scores for all markets in the Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare reports. Based on our analysis and assessment of the market's appeal to pharmaceutical companies, the Americas region continues to rank second-lowest globally with a score of 51.0 out of 100, compared to Western Europe (67.0), Central and Eastern Europe (52.0) Middle East and Africa (43.0) and Asia Pacific (54). Of the seven Central American countries surveyed, Panama's RRR score ranked top, followed by Costa Rica (40.8), Guatemala (38.8), Honduras (37.0), El Salvador (37.0), Belize (36.9) and Nicaragua (33.5)

Key Trends And Developments

- In March 2013, MicroVention, a subsidiary of Japanese medical device manufacturer Terumo Corporation, opened a new manufacturing facility in San Jose, Costa Rica. The new plant is MicroVention's first manufacturing facility outside the US and the first neurovascular manufacturing facility in Costa Rica. It is located at the Coyol Free Zone in the Alajuela region of Costa Rica. This new facility will support the growth and expansion of products offered under the MicroVention and Terumo brand.
- In February 2013, Sterigenics, a multinational sterilisation service provider to the medical device, pharmaceutical and food industries, invested US$9.5mn in San Jose, Costa Rica. The company has 40 service centres in 12 countries, although its only Latin American presence so far is two plants in Mexico.

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