In this 2018 interview, Tatiana Andía, now a professor at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, discusses the challenges facing Colombia’s health sector, principles of bureaucratic reform, and her experience as part of the health ministry’s drug price regulation team, whose work triggered a high-stakes showdown with the global pharmaceutical industry that had dramatic, unintended implications for Colombia’s foreign policy.
Tatiana Andía was an expert on the political economy of access to medicines conducting PhD dissertation research at the Colombian health ministry when the minister asked her to join a small, upstart team focused on regulating out-of-control pharmaceutical prices. Lowering the cost of drugs was crucial for ensuring the health care system’s financial sustainability, the ministry’s top priority for the sector.