Los medicamentos genéricos en Colombia: industria, políticas de salud y farmaceutización durante la década de 1960

This article analyses the history of the emergence of generic medications in Colombia during de 1960’s. It exposes that this emergence was the result of a merging between an industrial local sector, an industrial group from the United States and a pharmaceutical policy of the State. From the analysis of documents retrieved from the Ministry of Health, from the national and foreign press and some interviews with stakeholders, it is clear that the Ministry of Health and some of its workers stablished a pioneering policy within the continent. This policy strengthened the quality control of generic medications and it supported its diffusion. The Colombian State acted upon as an actor capable to regulate the harmonization between the benefits for the industry and the society seeking access to health. A first step taken by the Government and the industry toward the pharmaceuticalization of the society was the strategy of generics’ consumption