Sanfer, a Mexican titan with a flag in 26 countries
In a world where US tariffs and the aftermath of the pandemic could bring any company to its knees, Laboratorios Sanfer is consolidating its position as a Mexican giant in the region. Under the leadership of Dr. Dagoberto Cortés as CEO, the pharmaceutical company has charted a bold path to the top, demonstrating that with sharp management and a borderless vision, Mexico can generate strong transnational corporations. Sanfer dreamed big and is making it a reality.
Fifteen years ago, the Sanfer board, chaired by CEO Ricardo Amtmann Aguilar, decided it wasn't enough to simply ship products to Latin America for local distributors to deliver to pharmacies. "A horse gets fat by the eye of the owner," Cortés tells me; at Sanfer, they grew tired of sending food to a horse that arrived skinny. The solution was radical: goodbye to intermediaries. The company planted its own flag in 22 countries, from Colombia to Argentina, with subsidiaries and factories under the Sanfer prefix, such as Sanfer Pasteur in Chile or Sanfer Portugal in Peru. Today, with nearly 10,000 employees and 21 plants in the region, including a recently opened $35 million plant in Bogotá, Sanfer not only supplies Central and South America but also aims to export to Europe and Asia.
The secret lies in its threefold strategy. First, organic growth: developing quality generics after patent expiration, a difficult path in a Mexico without tax incentives for research; its product range includes painkillers, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories. Its flagship products include Andantol, Bisolsek, Bisolvon, Blastum, and Blistex. Second, acquiring established brands, such as the license for Daflon, a product for varicose veins that Sanfer has been marketing for 40 years thanks to a partnership with the French company Servier. And third, acquiring entire companies, such as Probiomed in 2021, a diamond in the rough of Mexican biotechnology—which brought it valuable biosimilars such as Etanercep and Rituximab for complex diseases like autoimmune diseases—or Mavi and Vitalis in 2023 and 2024, all three with modern plants and robust portfolios. “We fell in love with the products, not the buildings,” Dago describes, as his friends call him.
The intelligence of its strategy is based on its structure of seven business units operating as microenterprises, each with its own director, medical team, and sales force specialized in areas such as psychotropic or cardiovascular products. With 1,600 representatives, the largest sales force in Latin America, Sanfer promotes 48 products simultaneously without overstepping its boundaries. This allows it to dominate the 20 main therapeutic classes in Mexico and position itself as the second largest pharmaceutical company in the national pharmaceutical ranking. It is now only behind Sanofi and above giants such as Pfizer and Bayer.
In the animal health sector, Sanfer has built an empire since purchasing a company in Tehuacán, Puebla, in 2015. With one million hens in Puebla and Sonora, it produces eggs for poultry vaccines and specialty foods, which it exports to Eastern Europe and Asia. In January 2024, it took a bold leap by opening a plant in Tennessee, United States, to supply raw materials for vaccines, avoiding the costs of exporting eggs from Mexico. Separately, in the US pharmaceutical market, Sanfer sells generics to the Walgreens pharmacy chain and is preparing three new products to order, taking advantage of the fact that Mexican drugs do not face tariffs.
It refuses to share its data, but it has positioned itself among the pharmaceutical elite with double-digit annual revenue growth, the result of a strategy financed with investment funds and bank loans. Going public? They've considered it, but are waiting for the perfect moment. Meanwhile, its director shares with us that they are finalizing a mega-distribution center in the State of Mexico to centralize the logistics of its seven companies. Sanfer is undoubtedly proof that Mexico can create multinationals with muscle and vision.
Eleconomista
