{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_9/article_2/index_u73.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_9/index_u75.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_9\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Anterior","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articleprevlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_9/article_0/index_u9.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"Farmacias Similares","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"A Mexican pharmacy chain revolutionised health care at home","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"Can it do the same abroad?","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:49 | Mexico City","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u61.jpg"],["title","A person in a doctor costume solicits business for a Farmacias Similares store"],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_9/article_1/images/img1_u61.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"F","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"ARMACIAS SIMILARES ","l":"can","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":" ","l":"seem an unserious business. Employees dressed as the company’s mascot, the moustachioed “Dr Simi”, dance outside its pharmacies. Stuffed-toy Simis, costumed as Jedi knights or musicians in traditional ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"i","x":"mariachi ","l":"style, adorn its headquarters in Mexico City. But behind the cutesy marketing is a firm that has made health care in Mexico dramatically cheaper and more accessible over the past three decades. It is now trying to push into the United States.","a":[["class","calibre18"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"In 1997, when Farmacias Similares opened its first shop, prescription drugs cost twice as much in Mexico as they did elsewhere in Latin America. Generic medicines were not available. The firm’s founder, Victor González Torres, struggled against powerful pharmaceutical companies to win the freedom to sell generic drugs at prices up to 75% lower than his rivals’ patented products. Today his firm’s slogan—“the same but cheaper”—is emblazoned on nearly 10,000 branches across Mexico. Farmacias Similares does not publish financial results, but claims to sell 45% of all prescription drugs in Mexico by volume, and that its sales are growing by more than 9% a year. Medicines in Mexico are now among Latin America’s cheapest.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Farmacias Similares has also used its pharmacies to expand access to health care. From the start, each one has had a doctor’s office attached. An appointment costs 60 pesos ($3). In March alone there were more than 15m consultations.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Demand has grown thanks to former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Health care in Mexico is linked to payments for social security, made only by workers in formal employment. The majority, who work in the informal sector, used to rely on Seguro Popular, an insurance scheme run by the government. Promising to give Mexico a universal, “Nordic” health-care system, Mr López Obrador got rid of Seguro Popular in 2020. But his creation was poorly run and underfunded. He soon scrapped it, leaving no coverage in its place. As a result, affordable private health care like that offered through Farmacias Similares is now essential. Other Mexican pharmacists have copied the model.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, has promised to improve health care for Mexico’s poorest by hiring more doctors for the patchy network of government-run clinics, and by providing medication free. But with money tight and an economy threatened by tariffs, it is a promise she will find hard to keep.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"In any case, says Victor González Herrera, who succeeded his father as the firm’s boss in 2022, it would be stupid for the government to compete with providers of affordable private health care rather than working with them. He suggests chemists could provide on-site general practitioners while the government focuses on health-care specialists.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"The United States is not Farmacias Similares’s first international foray. The firm already runs 550 branches in Chile. Attempts to enter the Argentine and Colombian markets have not gone so well. Mr González blames a highly regulated and closed industry that wants to prevent newcomers and keep its high prices.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"That sounds rather like the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. Even as he inaugurates a new headquarters in Texas and opens “Similandia”, a shop on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, regulatory hurdles mean that Mr González will at first sell only vitamins and non-prescription drugs in the United States. Tariffs will make sourcing more challenging. Still, millions of Hispanics in California and Texas recognise Dr Simi. Perhaps Mr González will find a way to look after them, too. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"■"}]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","a":[["class","calibre18"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Sign up to El Boletín","l":", our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/newsletters/el-boletin"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/05/08/a-mexican-pharmacy-chain-revolutionised-health-care-at-home","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/05/08/a-mexican-pharmacy-chain-revolutionised-health-care-at-home"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_9/index_u75.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_9\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}