translated from Spanish: With EPN, taxes were waived to six pharmaceutical companies for almost 6 mmdp

Although the pharmaceutical sector is, in itself, one of the largest and most significant worldwide, according to information provided to Fundar by the SAT, in the past six-year, six of the ten most-selling drug-producing companies in the country tax benefits of 5 thousand 871 million pesos (at pesos 2019). 
These multimillion-dollar tax benefits are resources that stop entering the state’s coffers and could have been occupied to guarantee the right to health and reduce inequalities, said Janet Oropeza, researcher in the area of Accountability and Combat Corruption of Fundar, during a conference to present a mechanism of allegations of corruption in the drug sector. 
Oropeza explained that “if we add up the figures of the tax benefits of these six of the top ten production companies and the main distributor of medicines we get 7,705 mdp (2019 figures) of money that the government stopped receiving. This represents almost three times the budget of the Health Secretariat’s sexual and reproductive health program for 2019.” 
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65% of the total tax benefits, i.e. 3,796 mdp were obtained by a single company, ROCHE. Regarding the distribution companies, Grupo Fármacos Especializados, which has been the main supplier of the government in recent years, it was condoned 1, 834 mdp during the government of Enrique Peña Nieto alone. 
The other pharmaceutical companies that were tax-conserved are: Merck Sharp and Dohme from Mexico with 983 million 005 thousand 891 pesos in 2019 and Merck Sharpe and Dohme Comercializadora S of RL de CV with 112 million 605 thousand 421 pesos. 
Also on the list are: Novartis Pharmaceutical SA de CV with 771 million 579 thousand 128 pesos, Glaxosmithklime México SA de CV with 195 million 241 thousand 734 pesos, Sanofi Aventis de México SA de CV with 12 million 445 thousand 463 pesos and Bristol Myers Sbbqui from Mexico , with 6 million 265 pesos. 
Although it is not ruled out that there may be other companies in this same industry and that the amount condoned is higher, since several moral and physical persons were engrossed so that the SAT would not hand over their information. 
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These tax privileges, which the ASF itself has pointed out to be inefficient, the researcher said, cause double concern to the state and health services: some distribution companies secure many public contracts and at the same time tax conditions, this affects the competitiveness of the sector, placing these companies in privileged situations with respect to others and in front of the state itself, which impacts public purchases of medicines. 
For this reason, oropeza said, “we consider it essential that in the legislative legislation advance slavery the legal reform that will prohibit tax privileges, in addition to the new government maintaining its promise to ensure the progressive and sufficient allocation of resources public health sectors.”
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Original source in Spanish