Read the Conversation
Conversation highlights:
- Synthon Mexico’s Transformation (2020 to present). Carlos joined as CEO in 2020 with €10M in revenue and a €2.5M loss, and led a turnaround that nearly tripled revenue.
- Strategic portfolio restructuring. The business now runs two focused units, oncology and hematology, with a high specialty focus plus urology and nephrology, supported by a specialized high specialty sales force for the private sector.
- Pipeline and competitive advantages. Ten to fifteen new molecules from the Goldman Sachs acquisition are slated over the next five years, with potential healthcare savings of 5,000 million pesos, delivering high-quality and affordable medicines to Mexico.
- Future vision and AI implementation. Five-year goals target €100M in revenue, a 50 percent profit margin, and a balanced 50 to 50 government and retail mix with leadership in high specialty generics. At the same time, Synthon deploys AI across key workflows and builds a people strategy centered on elasticity, adaptability, strategic thinking, and thinking globally while acting locally.
EF: Looking back ten years, what are the two biggest achievements in Mexico’s life sciences? And what one goal should we set for the next five years?
CD: Mexico is an attractive market. I have 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, starting as a sales representative at Schering-Plough. Throughout my career, I have touched different parts of the business, from marketing to commercialization for innovative and generic products, which gives me a full picture of the Mexican market, its challenges, and the opportunities we can pursue. One key moment was moving to Teva. At that time, Schering Plough was the third largest company in Mexico, and Teva was just starting operations.
Moving to Teva was my first time in a generics company. Today, generics are a reality, but fifteen years ago, they were not well recognized by Mexican patients, and physicians were afraid to use them.
The challenge was to start sales in the government. In four years, with my team and my boss, we grew from 3 million units to 35 million, and from 100 multiple sclerosis patients to 1,500 patients. It was a success story not only in numbers but in shifting the culture from innovative to generics and managing a mix of Mexican, American, and European cultures at the same time. This experience helped me understand challenges and not be afraid to move to other types of companies.
I have moved back and forth between innovative and generics, which is why I use a somewhat controversial sentence. If you are on the innovators’ side, you defend quality, security, and investment in innovation. If you are in a generics company, you talk about access, affordability, price, and expanding reach. For me, both need each other. Innovators bring science and new therapies, and generics spread those benefits to society. Generics do not exist without innovators, and innovators need generics to help save money for healthcare systems and bring the next wave of innovation. They need to work together. This is one of the challenges I have seen in the last ten years.
EF: What attracted you to Synthon? Why was it the right choice for you?
CD: In the world, and in Mexico, there are clear trends. Every healthcare system is looking for savings due to the aging population and chronic diseases. Biological products, generics, and complex generics are part of the solution, but they are costly. Whether you talk about Medicare in the United States, Europe, Asia, or Mexico, governments are seeking savings.
Recently, our president, Claudia Sheinbaum, launched Plan Mexico with two pillars: expand access for the whole population and bring investment to the country. When I joined Synthon almost five years ago, it was at the end of the pandemic. It brought many challenges and opportunities, including global logistics issues, API shortages, and border delays. President López Obrador changed the purchasing process, which had been the same for seventy years. These conditions created opportunities for generics and for companies like Synthon with high quality, high efficacy, and affordable prices.
This context opened the possibility for Synthon to join the healthcare system in Mexico. We all had to learn new authorities, new processes, and a new reality. With a company like Synthon, backed by its broad international experience and facing the challenge of competing with firms that have long been established in Mexico, the opportunity was clear. With my nearly thirty years of experience, I know the system, the stakeholders, and how everything works. My idea was to connect the dots and the opportunity with Synthon’s capabilities.
EF: Could you give us an overview of Synthon’s current footprint in Mexico? How do you structure the business? Where do you see opportunities, and how are you establishing your portfolio?
CD: In 2020, Synthon Mexico reported €10 million in revenues but still posted a loss of €2.5 million. The challenge was the imbalance between government sales (95%) and retail (5%). After acquiring a Mexican company, most of the volume was concentrated in primary care products, low‑price, high‑volume medicines, while oncology had only three or four products facing strong competition. Revenues looked solid, and the company had already invested in a private sales force, but the gross margin remained thin.
So, when I joined, I found a company with a team willing to face a new reality, with a good culture and an accessible portfolio, and I also found important challenges. This year we will close at almost €28 million, nearly three times more, with €5.8 million in profit. That is a turnaround, and we did it as a team.
First, we split the portfolio into two business units. One is oncology and hematology, our highest specialty, where the pipeline is concentrated. The other is urology and nephrology. We began to exit CNS, to focus on our strengths.
This data is highly significant: over the past five years, we have recorded a 361% growth in the treatment of high‑specialty diseases, expanding the universe of patients served from 133,000 to nearly 613,000 people, that is, 480,000 additional patients with access to top‑quality medical treatments. This progress reflects our commitment to innovation and equitable access to healthcare, the pillars that guide our operations.
We also prepared the sales force. Our private sector share improved, and the mix moved to 65% government and 35% retail. Retail prices are better, and we need a smaller, high-specialty team. We promoted internal talent, and we added specialists in key areas such as commercial, well-known by distributors. We invested in our sales force and bet on their talent. As a result, our participation in the private sector improved, and today the mix is 65% government and 35% retail, with more competitive retail prices.
With Goldman Sachs as our owner, we will accelerate our pipeline. Over the next five years, we project between ten and fifteen post‑patent molecules, with a potential savings of at least 5,000 million pesos for the healthcare system. Thanks to producing our own APIs in Europe and our constant investment in clinical research, we will consolidate our position among the most recognized companies in high‑specialty generics. The goal is €100 million in revenue with a 30% margin.
Synthon has been in Mexico for 16 years, following the acquisition of a local company, and since then has made significant investments in research while maintaining the production of its own APIs in Europe. This capability allows us to innovate and compete with quality and intellectual property, while offering an advantage against supply interruptions that particularly affect oncology and directly impact patients. One example was our treatment for prostate cancer. Two years ago, we brought in a batch in advance. Although we lost the tender on price, the selected supplier failed to deliver. In coordination with Birmex, we agreed on a fair price, at least 50% below the innovator's, and delivered immediately, generating €5 million in revenues. This was possible because we can request immediate production in our European plants, and we own the API. That is the strength of our model. With in‑house production and international standards, Synthon operates as B2B globally and B2C in Mexico, building results that improve the quality of life for millions of patients.
EF: We cannot avoid talking about digitalization, AI, and the future of health. As part of a new generation of leaders looking into the future, how do you see this impact? Do you have any tangible examples of how this has become relevant in Mexico?
CD: I was the first President of Life Sciences and Health at Holland House, which allowed me to engage with our stakeholders on the challenges of biotechnology and AI in Mexico. AI is already a reality and is transforming clinical research and the development of new treatments.
With in silico trials, you do not need to enroll patients. Today, the timeline to launch a new molecule is around ten to twenty years, with investments of about two billion dollars for a chemical product and four billion euros for a biological one. With AI, costs and timelines can be cut in half.
The issue is regulation, which does not advance at the same pace as innovation, even within the EMA and FDA. In Mexico, the issue is regulatory dependence on Europe and the FDA. The question is how companies like Synthon can support COFEPRIS and the healthcare system in making digitalization a reality. The objective is correct, but implementation remains the challenge. New molecules in the pipeline may face delays if digitalization falls behind. Yet this is also an opportunity: companies that invest in digitalization will lead the market over the next five years.
One example of digitalization is learning from operations. We can use artificial intelligence to turn data into guidance. In the past, sales representatives calculated how many doctors to visit and how many boxes to place in pharmacies. By capturing this information in structured models, not conversational tools, but hard data, the sales force can generate studies and actions instead of spending time on manual analysis. I asked my BI team to deliver tools that help the sales force understand government data on prices and competitors. In retail, we can design better strategies using numbers and increase efficiency. This is how I am working with my team and how I see the regulatory future when we talk about AI.
EF: What talent are you looking for, and what skills will pharma companies in Mexico need in the future?
CD: One of my current priorities is increasing brand awareness for Synthon. We want new generations to recognize us as a company with purpose, which guarantees access to quality medicines, invests in research, and produces its own APIs. Young people are not only looking for income and achievements, but also seek the well‑being of society.
They are more aware of what is happening worldwide. In one conference, a student asked me if AI speeds up processes, and what happens to employees. Will we need fewer people like us in the future? It was a tough question, but it is real. From a social perspective, I paused before answering. I told them that the challenge is to learn more about the impact of new knowledge, science, and tools. AI will reduce operational tasks. People who are more prepared, more strategic, and more global will be the ones needed. That is what I look for in students, managers, and the sales force: elasticity to learn in an uncertain environment. After the pandemic, every day is challenging, with geopolitical tensions, economic wars, and digital wars. AI will lead these new technologies.
You need to think globally and act locally. That is why it is essential to work with people who have social awareness, knowledge, and humanity. We are talking about patients. I often tell my collaborators: someday we will be patients, or our parents, or children. We need to do the work today. For me, this guide is fundamental to know the kind of people I want in Synthon’s team: human, curious, and dedicated to their careers. Because they are the ones who will lead the future and take care of people’s health.
