M&Z at BioFusión 2026: towards regional regulatory cooperation in biotechnology and health
Our Managing Partner, José Meythaler, ranked by Chambers and Partners in Dispute Resolution, Public Law and Intellectual Property, will take part as a guest speaker at the 2nd Ibero-American Congress on Biotechnology, Health and Innovation – BioFusión 2026, convened by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Prodesalud. The congress will be held online from 17 to 19 November 2026 and will bring together experts in law, science and innovation from across Ibero-America.
Comparative law for a more connected region
José will represent Ecuador on Comparative Law Panel 2, “Bio Health Alliance: from regulatory fragmentation to regional cooperation”. He will share the panel with Gustavo de Freitas (Brazil), Juan Pablo Egaña (Chile), Ignacio Sánchez Echagüe (Argentina), Marcelino Ovidio Colorado Mendoza (Colombia) and Juan Carlos Castillo (Mexico). The session will be moderated by Maribel Ramírez Coronel of El Economista.
The 18 November programme focuses on the institutions, alliances and rules needed to accelerate responsible innovation. Within that framework, the panel will discuss how countries can move from scattered rules to cooperation mechanisms that speed up access to biotechnology and health products across the region.
Why regulatory cooperation matters
Each country in the region has its own health authority, with different requirements and timelines. For biotechnology and health companies, this means repeating procedures to bring the same product to several markets.
Forums to close that gap already exist. The Pan American Network for Drug Regulatory Harmonization (PANDRH), an initiative of national regulatory authorities and PAHO, promotes cooperation between agencies and the development of common proposals aimed at regulatory convergence (Pan American Health Organization).
Another tool is regulatory reliance: the use of decisions issued by regulators in other jurisdictions. According to PAHO, this mechanism reduces agencies’ workload and can be applied both before and after a medical product reaches the market (Pan American Health Organization).
In Ecuador, ARCSA already provides for homologation as a route to register biological products, as we explain in our update on changes to the sanitary registration of biologics (in Spanish).
Event details
José Meythaler’s session is scheduled for the second day of the congress.
Date: Wednesday, 18 November 2026
Time: 11:45 – 12:45
Format: online
Full programme: biofusion.mx/programa
Registration: biofusion.mx/registro
Life sciences regulatory counsel in Ecuador
At Meythaler & Zambrano Abogados we advise life sciences companies on sanitary registration, intellectual property and regulatory compliance in Ecuador. We authored the Ecuador chapter of the Legal 500 Life Sciences Comparative Guide 2026. If your company plans to bring products to several markets in the region, our team can help you shape your regulatory strategy.
Contact us to discuss your case.
