Obama’s new health care reform will provide a windfall of business opportunities for businesses in Costa Rica. Because forcing every American to have health insurance, will create between 20-40 million new patients in the US with access to medical services and that in turn create the need for the acquisition of more medical devices. Costa Rica’s Medical Devices industry is flourishing and has grown tremendously over the past few years, because Costa Rica is a low risk, cost competitive location for medical devices manufacturing operations.

Costa Rica is well positioned to provide additional medical devices for needy Americans, as it is home to 40+ Medical Device companies, including worldwide leaders such as Covidien, Boston Scientific, Baxter Healthcare, and St. Jude Medical. Additionally, Costa Rica is also home to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Stein Labs., DSM, among others.

Costa Rica’s Medical Devices sector started in 1987 with the opening of world leader Baxter Healthcare. Since then, the industry has been evolving and growing in size and complexity. Highly regulated devices like biological heart valves, aesthetic implants, and surgical systems are now mainstream business in Costa Rica. Manufacturing plants have outperformed and gained a positive reputation that has facilitated and motivated the transfer of more production lines to Costa Rica.

The largest sub-sector in the Medical Device arena is the Cardiovascular/Vascular sector, followed by Surgical and Diagnostics. There is also an important number of Medical Contract Manufacturers operating in ISO 7 and 8 clean rooms, providing a wide range of services from product design to manufacturing, packaging and sterilization. Furthermore, the arrival of more multi-national companies in recent years has contributed to the development and strengthening the local supply chain providing the following categories of products and services to support the Medical Services industry.

-Calibration Labs / Metrology
-Clean Room Providers
-Electromechanical Assembly / Cables & Connectors
-Engineering Services
-Logistics
-Machining & Tooling
-Molding
-Packaging
-Printing Supplies
-Raw Materials
-Special Finishing Processes
-Sterilization
-Wires / Wire Assembly

Today, the Medical Devices sector plays an important role in Costa Rica’s economy. During 2011, exports of medical devices accounted for 3.0% of the country’s GDP; and represented 11.8% of the total exports (US$1,239.2 Million). The Free Trade Zone exports of the Medical Devices sector have grown at an annual average of 8.6% annually since from 2001 to 2011. Furthermore, during the last 5 years, the investment of Medical Device companies has represented around 50% of the total FDI generated by Free Trade Zone companies. It is responsible for more than 13,000 new jobs; 9 times higher than it was a decade ago. Of all the companies currently operating in Costa Rica, over 40 were founded during the last decade. From 2000 to 2011, the number of companies in the industry experienced an annual growth rate of 19%; 413% higher than 11 years ago. This growth has not decelerated despite the global economic crisis, nor has it been negatively affected by the changes in the regulatory environment in the USA.

Over the years, Costa Rica has been investing significant resources in developing the necessary conditions to support multi-national companies operating in this industry.

Costa Rica provides the Medical Devices industry with:

-Highly skilled labor force
-Solid infrastructure
-IP Rights compliant with international agencies and organizations
-Know-how and expertise to meet CE Mark, ISO 13485 and FDA regulations and standards
-Solid platform for imports and exports
-Competitive infrastructure and well-known, long standing stability in Central America

It’s clear that Medical Device companies understand and appreciate why Costa Rica is the premiere location to supply North America’s medical needs.

Source: CINDE