Opportunities and Challenges in the Honduran Pharmaceutical Market: A Guide for Global Pharma Buyers

The Honduras pharmaceutical market can be viewed as one of the most potential and yet underdeveloped healthcare markets in Central America. Although relatively small when compared to other regional powerhouses such as Mexico or Brazil, the Honduran pharma sector has been experiencing steady growth over the last several years – due to the growing healthcare need, the growing population, and the liberalizing regulatory landscape.

By 2025, Honduras is likely to remain a major importer of pharmaceuticals, indicating a lack of manufacturing capacity but also a great opportunity to foreign companies to enter or grow in the market. The market is mostly motivated by generic drugs, basic medicines and over-the-counter (OTC) products, which are within the economic structure and medical demands of the country.

The business environment In the international firms is getting better with recent efforts by the Health Regulation Agency (ARSA) to enhance the pharmacovigilance and modernization of the regulatory environment. In addition, increased distribution and access is redefining through the increasing penetration of digital health, tele-pharmacy and e-commerce as they provide new avenues of growth to pharmaceuticals.

As per a data, the market of pharmaceuticals in dosage in Honduras was approximately US $126.46 per capita in 2023.

A more general import picture: in 2018, the pharmaceutical product importations were estimated at approximately, US $505 million.

Compared to the significant Latin American markets, the market is small. To take two instances, the entire pharmaceutical market of Latin America is set to increase to between US $127.05 billion in the year 2024 to US 234.17 billion in the year 2033 (CAGR of approximately 7.0%).

Growth projections:

• One research house has given an estimate that indicates the Honduras pharmaceuticals market will have a growth of about 9.14% in 2025, which will be followed by a 9.61% growth in 2026, and then the growth will reduce to 5.52% in 2029.

• This implies to international customers: the short term (within 1-2 years) will have a higher growth rate after which the growth will be slowing gradually.
• In world-buyer terms: whereas absolute size is minor, the enhanced rate of growth implies that Honduras might become an avenue of growth, as opposed to being a market, such as Brazil or Mexico.

Implication on global buyers

Honduras can be a decent growth opportunity especially to you in a multinational or export-oriented company; as long as you can achieve early mover advantage, local partnership and you target categories that have not been taken care of by imports.

With that said, its absolute size is relatively small, thus you might have to expect less: this market might not be large enough to support the scale of larger Latin American markets, thus it would be reasonable to implement niche strategies.

And currency, logistics and regulatory delays can also affect time-to-market, thus global buyers need to plan lead-times to be longer.

Import-dependence & generics dominance:

Honduras is very dependent on imports in pharmaceuticals. An example is that in one overview, Honduras is reported to import pharmaceuticals at the value of approximately ~US $350 million (in a particular year) and ranked as 106 th in the world, in terms of imports.

There seems to be a poor domestic base of manufacturing: there are only several domestic manufacturers listed (e.g., Drogueria Guardado, Grupo Farsiman).

There are dominating generics: According to one industry report, generic drugs are still ruling because of the low per-capita expenditure and sensitivity to price.

Channels & distribution:

Distribution is controlled by retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and drug-stores.

The e-commerce is not very big yet underdeveloped: the eCommerce market in the Honduran pharmaceuticals is expected to reach US $7.0 million by 2025 and increase at the rate of the CAGR of roughly 16-17% by 2029.

Public vs privatized sector:

The population is served by the public healthcare system (a large part of it (approximately 60% through the public sector)) and therefore the procurement, pricing and distribution of the public sector is important.

Income and insurance coverage restrict the demand in the private sector, that is, the affordability and volume limit it.

Implication on the international purchasers:

In the case of an exporter or manufacturing partner, it is reasonable to focus on generics, off-patent medicines and cost-effective formulations due to the spending environment.

It Is significant to have local partners: local distributors or local production facilities to maneuver import taxes or the distribution chain and the price-sensitivity of the market.

Dual-channel approach (public-supply and private-retail) might be advantageous, however, worldwide purchasers are to keep in mind that public tender and purchasing procedures might be more sluggish and bureaucratic.

New e-commerce and online health:

Online pharmaceutical developments are high in Honduras: the pharmaceuticals eCommerce sub-market growth is expected to be approximately 16-17% CAGR 2025-2029.

Online health, remote or tele-pharmacy can find its footing in Honduras, like in other Latin American markets, especially in the rural under-served regions.

Modernisation of the regulations:

Regulatory environment is changing: as an illustration, in early 2025 Honduras established new specialised regulatory bodies (e.g. national centre pharmacovigilance).

Honduras is a member (through the region) of Pan American Network of Drug Regulatory harmonization (PANDRH) that promotes the convergence of regulations in the Americas.

Switch to biosimilars/ generics and cost-containment:

As it is cost-sensitive, the market will shift to generics and perhaps to biosimilars, but implementation will be slower in Honduras compared to developed markets.

Demand in the health system and scope of chronic diseases:

As the rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Latin America in general increase, there will be more demand on chronic-therapy drugs, which presents long-term prospects (mid-/long-term). (The data on Honduras is scattered, however, this tendency is regional).

Notably, the health system of Honduras is publicly-based, i.e., the public health programmes can become a source of creating the demand towards vaccines, generics and necessary medicines.

Implication to international consumers:

In the case of multinational firms: think of the introduction of costoptimized generics, or biosimilars where the regulatory capacity is available.

To the contract manufacturers/exporters: the e-commerce channel represents an emerging niche particularly in the case of OTC and consumer health products.

In the case of the local partnerships: digital health integration (tele-medicine + dispensing) can become a differentiator.

Keep up with the regulatory developments: with Honduras becoming more modern in its regulation, international purchasers must follow the regulations (GMP, pharmacovigilance, digital records) as opposed to assuming that the market has minimal regulation.

Regulatory power and structure:

The key regulatory authority is the Health Regulation Agency (ARSA) in Honduras that controls products, services and establishments that affect the health of the people.

Labeling and marking: of pharmaceutical products in Honduras must contain a list of active ingredients and a date of sale.

By engaging in PANDRH, Honduras is slowly becoming a member of the wider practice of regulation in the Americas.

New regulatory changes:

To enhance health-regulation in 2025 Honduras established three specialised institutions: a National Centre for Technovigilance, National Centre for Pharmacovigilance, and National Centre for Foodborne Diseases (as part of ARSA) to enhance the control of devices, pharma and food safety.

Consequences to foreign companies:

Regulatory lead times should be expected of foreign investors: It may take months to register the drug, check the facility (GMP), and authorise the importation. in the article cited, the permission procedure of the drug may take several months.

In Honduras, manufacturing requires compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP); the manufacturing industry must be able to meet these requirements, and that of its partners or local facilities.

The Honduras pharma market has a number of opportunities to offer to global buyers (the multinationals, contract manufacturers, exporters):

Manufacturing/Export Opportunities:

It is an import dependent country, so Honduras can have a potential of contract manufacturing of generics/essential medicines or the local manufacture of this product to meet the needs of local consumption as well as possibly export to the region (Central America).

A manufacturing market report indicated that the pharmaceutical manufacturing market in Honduras is under track given segments such as large scale, small scale, biologics, injectables etc.

International customers will have an opportunity to collaborate with local institutions (as Lusha lists) or establish joint-ventures to manufacture generics/formulations on-site, thus not paying importation taxes or selling at a high price.

High growth segments:

OTC and consumer health products: The OTC drugs, vitamins, health supplements (providing it is regulated) may be a segment that is not well penetrated with the expanding channel of e-commerce.

Digital health/ tele-pharmacy: A pharma supply that is coupled with tele-medicine/distribution may be a differentiator.

Government incentives / government opportunities:

Although pharma incentives are less accessible to the public, volume opportunities are available in being included in government health-programmes or public tender (particularly of essential drugs).

Early involvement of the stakeholders in public health (Ministry of Health, ARSA) assists in aligning product registration and supply-chain issues.

Global-buyer specific learnings:

Find a local regulatory-advisor at the earliest opportunity to deal with registrations, labeling, import documentation.

Assess manufacturing/export model direct import, partner-license local manufacture, or establish regional manufacturing base.

In the case of multinationals with branded players, it is to be anticipated that premium pricing is limited, thus modify product/pricing strategy.

To the global customers, the Honduras market can be promising yet with a number of challenges and threats that will have to be avoided:

Regulatory & approval delays:

• The process of registration and approval is uncertain. International companies can experience a more extended lead-time on regulatory clearance, GMP inspection, import licence.
• Small size, cost-consciousness and small expenditure per capita:
• The small size of the market could imply that the volume can be low; international consumers who anticipate volumes might have to make changes.
• Low margins imply price sensitivity, premium pricing models will not perform well unless they are differentiated.

Import & supply-chain dependencies:

• Reliance on heavy imports implies being exposed to currency, importation taxes, logistics of trade and customs delays. These are some of the major cost and risk factors of a global buyer who will be exporting into Honduras.
• In case of local manufacturing, logistics infrastructure, warehousing, cold-chain (where applicable) can be underdeveloped than in mature markets.

IP protection & domestic competition:

In the case of branded drugs or biologics, the level of IP protection or enforcement may be weaker and slower than in the large markets.

Market access and Government procurement issues:

Participation in tender in the public sector can entail management of bureaucracy in the procurement process, delays, political risks.

Demand or reimbursement arrangements can be impacted by local government policy adjustments or budget limitations in the sector based on the use of public health.

Implication on global buyers:

Carry out stringent due-diligence on timlets and local partner capacities (regulatory, distribution, warehousing).

Design adaptable business- models with the ability to compress margin and ramp-up volume more sluggishly.

In order to make this actable to various types of buyers I will subdivide suggested tactics:

In case of Multinationals / Global Branded Players.

• Target small segments of the market (e.g., specialty generics, not intense competition biologics) instead of mass-market thinking.
• Establish an effective local distribution partner or subsidiary with regulatory and distribution and warehousing capacity.
• Localise your value proposition i.e. develop models tailored to the Honduran low-end market (change prices, pack sizes, recipe).

In case of Contract Manufacturers / Export-Oriented Players.

• Consider Honduras as a low-cost production/packaging hub in Central America, as long as the infrastructure and logistics can be up to your quality/supply-chain performance requirements.
• Identify local manufacturing partners that already possess some GMP capacity or invest to upscale local plant to GMP level and take advantage of the cost arbitrage.
• Instead, gain foothold by initially focusing on generics, OTC formulations or contract packaging, instead of biologics, which are high-risk.
• Take advantage of e-commerce and OTC: sell finished dosage in a retail or online pharmacy, which has a 17 -percent e-commerce CAGR.

To conclude, the Honduras pharmaceutical market presents a good but small market that the global buyer can potentially enjoy in Latin America. Although the market size is relatively small, unless price sensitive, and relatively high growth rate, the import-dependence and changing regulatory environment provides an opportunity to value based entrants.

In the case of multinationals, the niche strategies (generics, speciality therapies) and cost accommodation is the trick. Honduras would be a potential regional manufacturing hub or export hub, particularly when matched with local partnerships and digital channels, as a contract manufacturer and exporter. In the case of local companies or JVs, collaborating with international actors or make investment.

1. Understanding Pharmaceutical Regulations in Honduras: “In-Depth Analysis” (2024) – https://generisonline.com/understanding-pharmaceutical-regulations-in-honduras-an-in-depth-analysis/

1. Honduras Pharmaceuticals Market (2025-2031) | Forecast Reports – https://www.6wresearch.com/industry-report/honduras-pharmaceuticals-market
2. Pharmaceuticals in Dosage Market Size Value Per Capita in Honduras – https://www.reportlinker.com/dataset/8d2ce84fb5b5267a4d9319562aaafbe358c
3. Honduras Pharmaceuticals eCommerce Market – https://ecommercedb.com/markets/hn/pharmaceuticals
4. Honduras Strengthens Health Regulation (April 2025) – https://chambers.com/articles/honduras-strengthens-health-regulation-with-the-creation-of-three-new-institutions/
5. General Overview of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Central America (Honduras) – https://reuspharma.com/blog/general-overview-of-the-pharmaceutical-industry-in-central-america
6. Healthcare Resource Guide – Honduras (Imports) – https://www.trade.gov/healthcare-resource-guide-honduras