A new window of opportunity for brazilian API market

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The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly exposed how much Brazil is dependent on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients – APIs – and on intermediaries to manufacture its medicines. Internalizing and mastering the production of APIs is not simple and involves understanding risks and challenges that lie ahead. Nowadays, Brazil produces only 5% of the API´s needed to the manufacture of medicines, and according to ABIQUIFI (Brazilian Association for Fine Chemical Industry), would need to invest US$ 1 billion dollars in development and infrastructure to increase national production to 20% within five to ten years. Imports are predominantly from Asia (70%) but Europe (Germany, Switzerland and Italy, in general) and North America (USA) plays an important role on the Brazilian market.