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19 March 2020
Providing better care for pain patients in Central America and the Caribbean
It can sometimes be difficult for people in Central America or the Caribbean to access effective pain treatments. That’s why we at Grünenthal are striving to improve the standard of care by promoting deeper understanding about pain in this vibrant region.
“We’re striving to transform pain treatment in this region, and patients are always our priority.”
We took our first steps in Central America back in the 1960s, when Grünenthal started providing patients with medicines imported from our site in Ecuador. Around four decades later, we opened a regional office for Central America and the Caribbean in El Salvador in 2005, which was then relocated to Panama in 2009. The company now has about 100 employees in this fast-growing region, including teams in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. With a strong focus on pain, women’s health and respiratory health, we now have a strong foothold across the region and are using this to bring our portfolio of innovative medicines to patients in need.
While Grünenthal has a long history in this part of the world, we have achieved some major milestones during the last decade. In 2010, we set up specialist teams for training, regulatory affairs, sales and marketing to support our growth in this region. A dedicated distribution centre within the special economic area of Panama Pacifico was inaugurated in 2011. And in 2013, Grünenthal further strengthened its market presence by completing the acquisition of Andromaco Laboratories, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies along the Pacific coast of Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Patients in countries across this region often face challenges when trying to access effective treatments for pain because referrals to a pain specialist frequently involve complicated or unclear processes. Similarly, many physicians lack specific knowledge about how to manage complex pain conditions, and healthcare practitioners in the region are not always fully aware of the impact that chronic pain has on the day-to-day life of patients. For these reasons, we at Grünenthal are striving to transform the standard of care for patients across Central America and the Caribbean by engaging with partners from across the healthcare industry to improve the understanding of pain in this region – while also strengthening the market presence of our innovative pain treatments. At all times, these efforts are underscored by a strong belief that improving quality of life for patients is always the main priority for us.