Panama Minister of Health Fernando Boyd Galindo Imported Medicines without Health Registration from his Former Company

Reports and public scrutiny in Panama have highlighted that the Ministry of Health (MINSA) awarded government contracts and procurement purchases to Bio Materiales, S.A., a company in which the current Minister of Health, Fernando Boyd Galindo, served as a shareholder, vice president, and secretary for 28 years.

While these purchases have sparked media investigations regarding conflict of interest, it is part of a broader, well-documented push in Panama to ease and fast-track medicine imports.  To combat chronic drug shortages, Panama passed reforms allowing authorities to streamline or bypass traditional, lengthy sanitary registrations for medicines approved by trusted international regulatory bodies.

In these purchases and in four others there was a scandalous division of matter: two purchase processes in 2025 and four more in 2026, with repeated products in each acquisition. Fernando Boyd Galindo resigned from his positions at Bio Materiales, SA on June 13, 2024. 

The Ministry of Health Authorized Minister Boyd’s Former Company to Import Medicines without Health Registration