Supplying Medicines and Supplements to Paraguay

Paraguay's regulator, DINAVISA, opened an abbreviated route in 2025 for WHO essential medicines already registered in high-surveillance countries, including the EU, the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and Mercosur neighbours Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Paperwork matters: documents must be apostilled and translated. In public tenders, local production gets a 10% preference in international tenders, so imports compete best where local plants don't make the product.

Paraguay at a glance

How to supply medicines to Paraguay

1. Find a Paraguayan importer. A company with a business registration and import licence files the registration, signed by its pharmacist in charge.
2. Check the abbreviated route. If the product is a WHO essential medicine registered in a high-surveillance country, use the abbreviated route. Otherwise, use the ordinary route.
3. Prepare the dossier. A CTD dossier with a CoPP and the plant's GMP evidence. Apostille and translate the documents.
4. Supply. Private distributors and pharmacies, or tenders by the Ministry of Health and IPS on the national procurement portal.

Since 2025, compassionate or urgent use of unregistered medicines is possible by court order or at the Ministry's request, but not if an equivalent registered product exists. See named-patient and special import and government tender supply.

Supplements

Supplements (suplementos dietarios) are regulated by DINAVISA, which has a dedicated department for nutritional products. We help brands get supplements made under their own label by GMP-certified contract manufacturers: see nutraceutical private label.

What people in Paraguay search for

Semrush data from October 2026 shows that people in Paraguay search most for vitamin D and creatine (about 9,900 searches a month each), vitamin C (8,100), vitamin B12 (6,600), hydrolysed collagen (5,400) and whey protein (4,400). Among medicines, prednisone, atorvastatin, pregabalin, fluconazole and omeprazole lead.

Paraguayans search in Spanish: “vitamina D” and “creatina” get about 9,900 searches a month each, “vitamina C” 8,100, “vitamina B12” 6,600, “colágeno hidrolizado” 5,400 and “whey protein” 4,400 (Semrush, October 2026). Medicines are typed by their Spanish generic name, such as “prednisona” (about 16,700 a month), “atorvastatina” (6,920), “pregabalina” (6,890), “fluconazol” (6,580) and “cetirizina” (5,390).

How importers and distributors in Paraguay search

Across ten Spanish-speaking markets combined, Paraguay among them, Google Keyword Planner shows “droguería” between 100,000 and 1 million monthly searches, “distribuidora de medicamentos”, “laboratorio farmacéutico” and “principios activos” between 1,000 and 10,000, and “proveedor de medicamentos” and “suplementos al por mayor” between 100 and 1,000.

Supplements we can help you make

The most searched medicines include prednisone (prednisona, about 16,700 a month), atorvastatin, pregabalin, fluconazole, omeprazole and cetirizine. Some examples we list:

Documents to ask your supplier for

• A Certificate of a Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) in WHO format.
• The plant's GMP evidence, such as a WHO-GMP, EU-GMP or PIC/S certificate, plus any inspection by your regulator.
• The registration dossier (CTD or ACTD), with bioequivalence data for generics where required.
• Stability data for hot climates.
• A Certificate of Analysis for every batch.

Not sure a supplier is genuine? Read how to verify a pharmaceutical supplier. For the neighbouring markets, see our Latin America and Caribbean import guide.

Frequently asked questions