Between 2015 and 2017 PharmaBoardroom met with pharma country managers in Mexico who spoke about the challenges and opportunities present in the Mexican market. Since then, these five stakeholders have moved on to new roles in their ever-expanding careers. 

LATAM Expertise

Pedro Galvis

Mexico is an interesting mix between an emerging and a developed market, having the complexities of both

Pedro Galvis counts over 16 years with Merck, during which he has displayed leadership abilities while driving growth around Latin America. Starting out in Brazil as a business unit director, he has come full circle, moving back to Brazil as country manager in 2019 after seven years working in Peru and Mexico. Under Galvis’s leadership in Mexico, Merck became the fastest-growing multinational among the top ten companies in Mexico.

PharmaBoardroom caught up with Galvis in 2016 while he was managing the Mexico affiliate, in which he reflected on the nuances of working in the country, “Mexico is an interesting mix between an emerging and a developed market, having the complexities of both. Notwithstanding, if you are flexible enough to manage the particularities of the market you can really benefit from its local dynamism turning challenges into opportunities. It is crucial to keep your affiliate aligned to global strategy while simultaneously adapting the implementation to local trends.”

Diabetes: A Critical Issue

Morten Vaupel

Diabetes is a critical and crucial issue, which has a huge impact on its population, but also on the country’s economy as a whole

Morten Vaupel’s career with Novo Nordisk has taken him around the globe, starting out in international marketing for Eastern Europe, eventually taking on the role of general manager for Hungary and the Baltics before transitioning to Latin America to become the vice president and general manager of the Mexico affiliate.

Mexico is a highly strategic market for Novo Nordisk, where more than 13 million people live with diabetes and 71 per cent of the total population are overweight or obese. During Vaupel’s tenure, he grew the affiliate more than 20 per cent each year and prioritised partnering with the government to provide physicians and patients with crucial treatments to help control the disease. After over four years tackling diabetes in Mexico, he set his sights on Asia Pacific and since 2017 he has been working in Indonesia, which has the seventh-largest number of diabetes patients in the world.

In an interview with PharmaBoardroom, Vaupel highlighted the severity of the disease in Mexico, stating that “diabetes is a critical and crucial issue, which has a huge impact on its population, but also on the country’s economy as a whole. The lack of treatment options, the weak treatment adherence rates, and the millions of patients that remain undiagnosed generate a monstrous cost for the country and it increasingly hinders its productivity.”

Keeping it Mexican

Irma Egoavil

Our aspiration in Mexico is to become the leading biopharmaceutical company in cancer and immune-inflammatory diseases

A medical doctor by training, Egoavil she began her commercial career at Roche where she gained exposure to the areas of haematology, immunology, arthritis, and oncology through numerous management positions.

In 2012 she transitioned to Celgene’s Mexico affiliate, which was marketing drugs for multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes. She shared her aims with PharmaBoardroom in 2015: “Our aspiration in Mexico is to become the leading biopharmaceutical company in cancer and immune-inflammatory diseases. To do so, we have to diversify our portfolio with new products and new indications. We currently also have products in development in oncology, haematology, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and other immunological diseases.”

After four years with Celgene, Egoavil moved on to Ferring Mexico, where she now focuses on fertility and assisted reproduction, working on advancing the research and development of human recombinant follicle-stimulating hormones.

Driven by Diagnostics

Martin Ferrari Del Sel

It is a fact that there is a huge gap between the current health needs of the Mexican population and the existing public and private infrastructure to fulfil such needs

Martin Ferrari del Sel has moved around Latin America, the bulk of his career spent managing the Chile, Argentina and Mexico affiliates of German medtech and safety technology company Dräger.

In 2018, after thirteen years with Dräger, del Sel went on to work for Abbott’s diagnostics business in Argentina and Mexico. He was interviewed by PharmaBoardroom in 2017 while managing Dräger’s Mexico affiliate: “I was appointed country manager of Dräger Mexico in 2014 after having managed the Chilean affiliate since 2009. My main mission in Mexico was to deploy the new distribution strategy moving from an indirect to a direct model to be closer to our end customers as we currently have a hybrid distribution structure.” 

del Sel went on to elaborate on Dräger’s aim of meeting local health needs, “It is a fact that there is a huge gap between the current health needs of the Mexican population and the existing public and private infrastructure to fulfil such needs. In addition, and just to give some facts, the efficiency in the operating rooms is far away from what it should be.”

Medtech Mastery

Mario Amadio

I believe the mission for me and all my peers around the world is the same: be the main provider of innovative solutions for the challenges of the healthcare system.

Mario Amadio holds vast executive leadership experience in Europe and Latin America with GE Healthcare and has been responsible for growth strategies in the Latin America region, including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Amadio served as the president of GE Healthcare’s affiliates in both Argentina and Mexico, managing cultural and business structure changes within the company.

PharmaBoardroom met Amadio during his stint in Mexico, when he underscored the importance of the Mexican market: “Mexico has developed into an innovation absorbent market, seeking and embracing new technology and ideas which fits our business culture perfectly. All in all, Mexico is a unique market of utmost significance to the GE Group!”

Since then Amadio has gone on to lead IQ Medical Services in Argentina as global commercial director. No matter his position, his core value is the same, as he further explained to PharmaBoardroom: “I believe the mission for me and all my peers around the world is the same: be the main provider of innovative solutions for the challenges of the healthcare system and thus, be in proximity to the patient—at the end, the welfare of the patient is our goal. In operational terms for our customers, that means that we are there to provide better solutions that increase efficiency, effectiveness and have the right innovative characteristics to fulfil their need.”