The Latin American pharmaceutical market is expected to nearly double from $73bn in sales this year to $124bn by 2018, according to IMS Health.
Abbott’s $2.9bn purchase of CFR Pharmaceuticals will make it one of the top 10 pharma companies on the continent, as well as expand its manufacturing operations significantly in the region as CFR has facilities in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
Abbott spokesman Steve Stossel told us: “The facilities would be owned by Abbott at the completion of the acquisition.”
CFR currently markets more than 1,000 products in 15 Latin American markets. The acquisition is expected to add $900m to Abbott’s sales in 2015.
Fresenius Kabi
Fresenius Kabi, meanwhile, agreed to acquire privately held Brazilian pharma company Novafarma Indústria Farmacêutica for an undisclosed amount.
With the acquisition, Fresenius will add a range of generic IV drugs, including antibiotics, analgesics and anesthetics, for the Brazilian hospital market. The deal also comes with a manufacturing facility and R&D center in the state of Goiás.
2013 sales for Novafarma were approximately $46.6m (€34m).
But this isn’t the company’s first foray into Brazil. Fresenius Kabi entered the Brazilian market in 1977, and is one of the country's leading suppliers of clinical nutrition, infusion therapy and medical devices/transfusion technology.
Brazil is the largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America, with 2013 sales of $19.9bn (€14.5bn). In recent years, this market has grown at high single-digit to low double-digit rates, according to IMS Health.