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Conversation highlights:
- The company's footprint is built around four complementary business units: manufacturing medicines, a nationwide distribution network, a logistics arm serving both public and private sectors, and a software company specializing in digital health solutions.
- The Need for Long-Term Vision: The industry has set ambitious goals to transform Mexico’s healthcare system into a global benchmark. This will require a major paradigm shift in how care is delivered and managed. The first priority is data — collecting and organizing patient information to enable better decisions and more efficient systems.
- Building a Sustainable Healthcare Structure in Mexico: The U.S. High-Tech Act offers a model for Mexico to follow, providing a framework for digitalizing healthcare software and information. This step is critical to creating a more connected, efficient system that works for patients and providers alike.
- A Growing Footprint: The company is making a significant investment in a new oncology plant in Guadalajara, aiming to strengthen local capacity for cancer treatment.
- Personal Mission: Healthcare remains a sector where people are willing to spend, making it a resilient and promising market for long-term growth.
EF: Could you tell us about your company's mission and how you see your role in strengthening the Mexican healthcare system?
IB: We are a holding of four companies: a laboratory that manufactures and produces medicines, a distribution company that buys and sells these goods, a logistics partner supporting our distribution company, and, of course, providing solutions for all the industry stakeholders. Third, the Manufacturing R&D company, and finally, the Lifesciences technology arm, which is a software company.
By bringing these four together, our vision is to transform and fulfil Mexico’s healthcare system and make it a benchmark for healthcare worldwide. In Mexico, there is still a long road to travel, which also means a big opportunity. That is why we built these four business units, so we can approach our mission from every angle and provide a full 360-degree solution.
EF: What do you see as the biggest opportunities to accelerate the transformation of the Mexican healthcare system in the coming years?
IB: Mexico needs a big change. The government can shift the way it approaches healthcare. Today, the belief is that the government should be the one providing solutions. A stronger path is for the government to fund healthcare while the private sector provides it.
Mexico's Health progress depends on the alignment among decision makers such as Minister Kershenobich, Clark, Zoé Robledo, Alejandro Svarch, and Armida Zúñiga, together with the pace set by the patient. It has become clear that public infrastructure alone cannot meet all the population’s needs. Results show the scale of the task and the need to add complementary models.
While the current government has been cautious about companies earning profit in the public system, the conversation can focus on transparency, value for patients, and accountability. Recognizing that sustainable operations enable continuous improvement.
The solution is to provide healthcare at the lowest possible cost and with the best technology. Clear standards and competitive procurement allow the most capable providers to rise and lead. Rather than full integration of people, systems, and hospitals by the state, the model can emphasize stewardship, funding, and regulation, with delivery by qualified providers across the system.
EF: How can companies like Farmacos Davori serve as a strategic partner between the private and public sectors to help navigate the system more effectively?
IB: We are building a project with a large technology component that will connect public health systems at the scale required. At every level of care, we want to communicate the needs of the public healthcare system to private pharmacies, whether chains or independent groups. Through technology, we see an opportunity for private pharmacy groups to supply medicines to people affiliated with the public system.
We are starting this project in several states in Mexico. With the technology in place, patients will receive their medicines through private pharmacies. The opportunity is very clear. Sometimes it seems Mexico is already leaving first-level care to the private sector, though without a formal statement. Mexico can make this explicit by moving first-level care to small clinics and hospitals and creating incentives for them to serve as providers. To make this work, the government needs a way to pay them and include them in the system. Right now, there is heavy spending to try to be everywhere, which is difficult to sustain. Mexico does not have the reach or infrastructure to manage every point of care. Private providers and small doctors in every community can take on that role, using technology to ensure they are paid and integrated.
Today, many of the sixty to seventy million people who depend on the public healthcare system have low trust. Even as the government expands the offer, people often avoid clinics because there is no medicine or the doctor is away. Rather than trying to control every clinic, the government can let the private sector handle first-level care. This would save money and allow focus on where investment is most needed, second-level and third-level care.
EF: How would you rate the adoption of AI technology in the Mexican healthcare system? And where do you see it evolving?
IB: If we are talking about AI, the first requirement is data. So, Mexico needs to build its information foundations.
Even though digitalization efforts have been underway since the administrations of Calderón and Peña Nieto, we urgently have to move beyond short-term solutions that solely focus on delivering medicines today and invest in absorbing and indexing data to understand what the population actually needs.
A useful reference is the United States’ HITECH Act, implemented around 2009 as part of the response to the financial crisis. It focused on systematizing healthcare and digitalizing software across every point where patients interact with the system, while providing incentives for doctors, pharmacists, and others to adopt technology.
Mexico should consider a similar path. We need to digitalize all points of care and points of sale, whether private or public, using a basic set of requirements for an approved Platform. With clear standards in place, information about patients and the broader population becomes accessible to patients, to doctors, to the government, and to healthcare suppliers, moving the system closer to greater efficiency.
Mexico should require every healthcare provider to use a digital application or solution. It does not need every detail; it must be privacy-compliant and allow data to be organized and accessible. Providers should use systems that structure data, so authorized users can access it.
A major challenge is that doctors, hospitals, and institutions often do not share data, which makes the system inefficient. Patients sometimes travel seven hours to reach their first point of care only because another institution or doctor would not share information.
EF: Your company has already launched a pilot project for electronic medical records; how do you see this initiative growing and scaling to create a deeper impact on Mexico’s healthcare system?
IB: We are excited to do this. Spain, for example, already has a service where the system is connected through a universal prescription, valid in every pharmacy across the European Union. It is a very convenient model that also brings more volume to pharmacies, which motivates them to improve in service, attention, display, and in keeping their inventory ready. That is why we are enthusiastic about deploying a similar project in Mexico.
We are thrilled to be part of a transformation. Mexico has three big priorities: security, healthcare, and education. Education is often less visible, while healthcare and security stay at the center. I feel privileged to be part of the companies and groups working at this important moment for Mexico to build something better, because the healthcare system faces significant challenges and inefficiencies that we can help address. There is a long way to go, but we see interesting opportunities across all four of our business units. We are currently making a very big investment in Guadalajara, where we are building a plant for oncological treatment in Mexico.
However, the progress also depends on clear regulatory pathways and defined duties. We are ready to collaborate, and we are monitoring international trade developments, including potential import taxes on medicines, so we can plan accordingly.
EF: What is one message you would like to send to the new generations to encourage them to get involved in the sector, and to help make the importance of education more visible in the overall scheme?
IB: This was the breakthrough that made me consider selling my fashion ventures and moving into healthcare. Healthcare is a sector where people do not hesitate to spend, because health is the most important need for every human being.
Imagine an industry that is a priority for everyone, with constant room to innovate and transform in Mexico or anywhere in the world. There are many opportunities. People still die young, and some diseases cannot be cured. You can build a successful business and be proud of helping people, families, and communities at the same time. It brings real satisfaction. Today, with our little venture and business units, we are helping people get healthy and promoting a healthier future for Mexico’s families.
