Mauricio Berdugo, Director of Medical Affairs at Humacyte

Mauricio A. Berdugo, MD, MPH, is currently the Director of Medical Affairs at Humacyte, Inc. Mauricio has worked in different capacities within the CRO, pharma, diagnostics, and biotech industries in the USA and globally, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia over the past 9 years.  His clinical and academic research stems from HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, renal disease, and orthopedic spine surgery. Mauricio graduated from medical school at the Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador, completed his Master of Public Health degree from Kaplan University, and he is currently pursuing a Fellowship with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Latin MedTech Leaders podcast, a conversation with Metech leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America. Please subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast. Amazon Music is teacher. Tune in. I heard radio, Pandora, or these are welcome to the Latin Metech Leaders podcast, a conversations with leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America. Today our guest is Mauricio Bargo, MD mph. Mauricio is currently the director of medical affairs at homicide. I hope I'm pronouncing this right,<laugh>. And he has worked in different capacities within the cro Pharma diagnostics and biotech industries in the United States and globally, including Latin America, Europe, in Asia for, um, for the past nine, 10 years. So, Maurices, it's great to have you here in the show. Welcome. Thank

Speaker 2: 0:59

You very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Excellent, Mauricio. So, I'm so looking so much, uh, looking forward to this conversation today. You are originally from Central America, and I'm very curious about your journey. Tell us about your journey to where you are today and your journey to Latin America.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Well, interestingly enough, my journey started in the United States. Uh, I was raised in the United States, but I had the opportunity, uh, to go to, uh, El Salvador for medical school, uh, and which was a, you know, a phenomenal experience for me. Uh, learning a little bit more about my own culture, uh, you know, where my ancestors came from, my family came from. I was actually born there, were raised in the United States, but, uh, the, uh, important things that I got to know, uh, what the healthcare situation is outside of the United States, which is something that I'm very foreign to. So it was not only a, a culture shock, should I say, for an American kid to go to, uh, his country of origin, but to learn how things work, uh, politically and in the healthcare, uh, uh, industry, uh, outside of the United States. Uh, so after graduation from medical school, I came back to the United States and I started working, uh, in, in a different clinical, uh, positions. But eventually I decided to embark an academic journey, uh, in, uh, in, in healthcare, uh, principally in, uh, pulmonary, cardiovascular and spine surgery research, uh, which brought me to, to this industry. And that's when I started to grow, uh, within the therapeutic areas that, you know, that I now, uh, and have worked with in the past. So, it's been a pretty long journey. It's been a very interesting journey. Uh, and, uh, and, and maybe to answer your question about how I got involved, uh, in the Latin America, uh, you know, side of things was, uh, once I, I got into the diagnostic space, that's really where I had the opportunity to work globally. And I worked with different, uh, uh, people, wonderful people from different countries. Uh, and, and I learned a lot about, uh, you know, what the policies are in each country. Every country's different. Uh, you know, it's, there's no one cookie cutter, uh, way to, uh, to do things. And so you really get a good perspective about, you know, how to work in each individual region.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Excellent, Mauricio. All right. So let's talk about trends. What do you see happening in Latin America from the political, economical, or social standpoint that, that is relevant to our discussion today?

Speaker 2: 3:16

You know, without maybe getting into too many, uh, details, but I think politically there, I think just the same as the around the world, there's a lot of political unrest. Uh, you know, there's a lot of, uh, different ideas, different, uh, ideologies, uh, that predominate, uh, with different, uh, you know, governments and different administrations. Uh, I don't think it's any different than here in the United States, but I think what the most important, uh, thing in Latin America is the level of, uh, poverty, uh, and the level of angst, uh, you know, from, from different people. Uh, not so much, you know, about, you know, what are they gonna do, uh, with their new governments. But, you know, economically it's, it, it's, it's a very difficult situation, uh, politically obviously it's a difficult situation, but I think socially as well, uh, there's a lot of division and, and so that impacts, uh, many sectors of, uh, of society in Latin America. And, and I have personally seen, uh, that that divide. And so, uh, you know, it, it's really a difficult situation in some countries. It's better in other countries, it's not. Uh, but, uh, there's a lot of unrest, uh, right now all over the world.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Yes, yes. Agree. Well, you're bringing up an interesting point,<laugh>, I don't know if it is a curse or, or, or, or a blessing for Latin America, but, um, you see a lot of populist governments in the region, Argentina, uh, now Peru, uh, of course, Venezuela in, in, uh, Mexico, et cetera, in, in, in Columbia is about to have an election. And there is a populist, um, candidate, very strong. So what this means is that, uh, you see a lot of government programs, including healthcare programs that benefit the whole population in, you know, one way or another. So, as I said, I don't know if it is a course or a blessing, but, uh, but the train in Latin America, or the historic, um, behavior of the region has been universal healthcare system for everybody. So I guess that, that, um, facilitates, uh, the, the, the access, uh, to the system and, and then the, uh, increases the coverage and, and also makes it attractive for companies to, um, to sell products, uh, to, to national healthcare systems. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:42

Yeah. No, I agree. And, and actually in some countries you'll have the universal healthcare system, but then there are also private systems that, that, that also work, and then also the social security, uh, healthcare systems that some countries have. Uh, and so there is a little bit of a, I'd say, benefit, you know, to having, to being, uh, able to afford into those programs. But for the most part, you're right, it's universal healthcare, and whether it's good or bad for the population, uh, you know, I'm sure that they're improve, you know, improvements that can be made, you know, all around.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And also something that I've seen happening in the region just happen in Columbia recently, is that, um, recently, we're probably talking about three, four years ago, uh, it's, uh, that healthcare is a constitutional right. So, um, you have the, the, the right as a Columbian citizen to, to have access to the healthcare system. And, uh, reimbursement is pretty much a guarantee for any product that you wanna, that, that you need for your medical care. So, um, that's, that's certainly a trend that is increasing in, in, in the region. Yeah,

Speaker 2: 6:52

Definitely.

Speaker 1: 6:53

All right. So Mauricio, let's speak about your, uh, practical experience, your field experience in the different countries in the region. Let's, let's, uh, speak about Mexico, Columbia, and, and anywhere else in Latin America where you travel and, and you were able to, to, uh, work and, and, uh, experience how to do business in each country.

Speaker 2: 7:17

Yeah, interestingly enough, the, uh, countries that I worked, uh, with the most, uh, were in Columbia, uh, Argentina, uh, Chile, uh, and with Mexico, I, I did some work indirectly, worked with a lot of great people, uh, didn't, uh, I didn't have the opportunity to go, uh, to, uh, Mexico physically, but I was there virtually quite a lot,<laugh>. Uh, but, uh, interestingly enough, uh, in South America, the markets, uh, have, uh, been very, uh, diverse, especially in Columbia, uh, where you have, uh, different medical systems that, uh, that are, are, are working. Regulatory agencies are very different, uh, in Columbia, where, uh, if you wanna bring a product there, you really do have to show, uh, the regulatory agencies, uh, the, the benefits, uh, in, in the clinical trial outcomes, uh, for the product. And they, you know, if, if everything looks good, they really, they, you know, they ex they approve things pretty quickly. Uh, and, uh, without so much delay, uh, in other countries, it might be a little bit different. Uh, Chile, for example, it's, it's a pretty fast, uh, system. Argentina is a, is a, is a relatively fast system. I know Mexico, uh, is moderate. It could take a couple of months, but, you know, if things look good, they, they're pretty good in Brazil, uh, which is another market that I've, uh, worked in, uh, is, is a little bit more delayed, uh, because they're just very careful about what, uh, is being brought to their population. And they wanna make sure that, you know, they, they, they do a very, uh, detailed, uh, look at, uh, at all the information that's being brought to them for the product. But for the most part, if everything looks good, they approve it to

Speaker 1: 8:55

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Mexico and Brazil are kind of the, the, the ugly countries in Latin America for regulatory effort. Everybody's scared of these two countries because it is time consuming is labors and expensive. And, um, as you said, Columbia is pretty straightforward. Uh, in, in about 90 days, you can have your, your high risk device approved and for lower risk devices, uh, class one and class two is automatic, it's just a notification. Yeah. Which is great. And, and, and, and I was just recently, um, uh, listening to, um, uh, a presentation from, uh, the director of the medical device committee in Arvi in Columbia. And, uh, she was saying that, uh, they did benchmarking, uh, and they compare colo to the rest of the countries in Latin America. And Columbia definitely has the fastest approval time except for Chile. Right? Chile is a different animal. Yeah. Chile. Chile, you don't need, regulatory approval is voluntary. Uh, which is interesting because I create a, a, a kind of a, a market driven, uh, regulatory system. In other words, if you don't have fda, you see market approval, uh, the government doesn't care about it. The government will let you import the product. Uh, they want, um, they, they don't require you to file any applications or anything. You can, as long as you have a, a distributor, an importer, you should be able to sell the product, uh, tomorrow. Uh, it's just that the local doctors will not accept anything that's

Speaker 2: 10:31

Ex that's exactly what I was about ready to say. So, uh, so that the regulatory part is very easy, but, uh, trying to convince people to use, uh, new products is a challenge. And so that's, that's where a lot of training and education, uh, come in very handy. And sometimes you ha uh, if you convince, uh, the elder, uh, professor or the elder physician in, in the facility, and if that person has, or he or she has a, you know, significant influence in, in the hospital or healthcare system, then other people will follow and adopt. But it takes some time to, to get that to happen.

Speaker 1: 11:06

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. No, nobody will risk, uh, the reputation. Any, any q p leader will carefully guard to use her reputation and will not, uh, risk, uh, his patients, uh, or her presences, uh, with, uh, Chinese or some, uh, products that do not have, uh, FDA or C mark approvals. So, yeah. So Marisa, let's speak about your, uh, past experience. In what capacity were you working in Latin America? I, if I remember correctly, you were a medical director also. You were medical affairs?

Speaker 2: 11:41

Yeah, I was in medical affairs. I was, uh, the, uh, global medical affairs actually at, uh, uh, at a diagnostics company. And so, uh, my, uh, my job was to, uh, was essentially, I was in charge of, uh, three disease states, uh, and, and, and, you know, and in the product that was, uh, that was being used for those disease states. And so, uh, my, uh, for example, sepsis and acute kidney injury were the two big ones that I, that I was working on. And so, uh, what I, I had to do, uh, was, uh, train people, you know, talk to physicians, talk to different hospital systems about, uh, sepsis. Uh, interestingly enough, we, uh, in the healthcare, uh, you know, field, we, everybody knows about sepsis, but at the same time, not very many people know about sepsis. And, and, and that's something that's very, you know, it's an infectious disease. It's, it's a most multi-systemic, uh, uh, you know, a problem that, that happens when, uh, you know, as a result of an infection, uh, where the, you know, multiple organs can fail. Uh, and, uh, and, and it could be very deadly. But, uh, the interesting thing was that, uh, there are different ideas about how to manage the septic patient. And so, but there really is no consensus. And so, uh, my job really was to not only talk about, uh, the, the diagnostic tests that, that we had, uh, for use in sepsis, but really educate and train people about the management of sepsis. And the same thing was for acute kidney injury. So, uh, it's just very interesting to see different colleagues when, when you talk to them there, those that you know, that listen, uh, that, uh, are, are very appreciative of the, the new updated information. Because many times in many countries, uh, some of the information that they have is very old. So when you bring something new, they really do appreciate that. Uh, you know, in other cases, there are some guys that are just set in their ways, they don't wanna change. And, you know, that's, that's how, and that's okay,<laugh>, but for the most part, bring, you know, bringing new information has been, uh, quite a, a, a very, uh, interesting, uh, thing to experience because people do appreciate that. And because they do, uh, genuinely wanna, uh, want to, uh, improve patient lives. So, so that was my experience there.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Okay. Okay. Interesting. And you're bringing up another point, um, which is education information and all that. And you are in a unique position because you went to medical school in El Salvador. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So it's a, it is a central American country. Many people talk about now it's kind of in fashion with the president, right?

Speaker 2: 14:19

I think you, you paused for a minute. Sorry,<laugh>. Yeah, you're back.

Speaker 1: 14:24

You're back. Okay. I'm here. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:26

So

Speaker 1: 14:27

Top of the world is in fashion now because of the crypto currency. Bitcoin, yeah.<laugh>, yeah. Bitcoin is the first country in the world to adopt<laugh> Bitcoin as a, as a national currency. And the president is, uh, he's unique, to say the least.<laugh>.

Speaker 2: 14:43

Yeah. He's, uh, some people like him, some people don't

Speaker 1: 14:45

See. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure, uh, you talk a lot about this with your, uh, family members and your friends from Salvador. But the, the, the question I wanted to ask you, Mauricio, is how would you compare the medical education that you've received and, and, and that doctors, uh, in general receive in, in a country like Salvador with the education of somebody who, who went to medical school in the United States?

Speaker 2: 15:09

You know, interestingly enough, and I mean, it's a very good question. Uh, uh, you know, just, uh, as a, you know, point of reference for me, I mean, I, I went to medical school, you know, over 20 years ago. And so, uh, the educational system, I'm sure has changed since, uh, I was there. Uh, but what I will tell you is that, uh, at least from my own experience, uh, in medical school, I mean, we used the same books. We used a lot of the same references. Uh, you know, our professors, uh, were very good, very knowledgeable about, uh, their specific specialties. And they, uh, and they taught very, in a very anecdotal way. Right? Uh, so, so you, you're really trained to be a physician in, in that country, which is, you know, that that's why you're there, right? But, uh, I think what the difference between, uh, some Latin American countries, I know I can't speak for all Latin American countries, but just from my own experience is that, uh, in the United States, there is a little bit more of an academic, uh, focus then in Latin America. And, and, you know, we're they here in the United States, uh, we encourage medical students and residents and fellows to participate in clinical research, uh, you know, to test new, innovative, uh, ideas, to test innovative products, and to participate in, in some of those activities, you know, not only to, uh, uh, encourage people to do something new, but maybe discover something better. Uh, and so, uh, I did not have that experience, and this was 20, 25 years ago, so I'm sure things may have already changed, but nonetheless, uh, that's probably the biggest difference between, uh, the, the, the two regions.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Yes. Yes. I, I think, uh, things have not changed that much, to be honest with you, because I hear that from, uh, a few other people, uh, including my brother. My brother went to medical school in, in Columbia. And by the way, there's a significant difference, um, medical school in Latin America, it's an undergrad degree, right?<laugh>. So right after high school, you get into medical school and you spend five, seven years with the internship, and you also have to do social service. That's the same case in Salvador. Yes.

Speaker 2: 17:28

That's the case. Okay.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Yeah. Yeah. So social service where you spend a year in a rural area helping people, which is great. I think that's a great experience for a very humbling experience. Cause regardless of your socioeconomic level, and you know that Latin America has very, uh, marked<laugh>, very bold differences. Uh, you have to go through

Speaker 2: 17:51

That. Yeah. And, and actually, uh, I mean, I've been, uh, uh, you know, given gifts, you know, from, from patients when I did my social service here, I've been given, uh, uh, food chickens, uh, fruit cats. And I even had one lady offer me, uh, to marry her daughter,<laugh><laugh>. But, uh, I did not marry her. But, uh, but it's, it's very humbling, you know, that, that people really do appreciate, uh, uh, what, what you do for them. Uh, you, uh, you get to see a side of, uh, society that you normally wouldn't get to see in the bigger cities. And so it really was a humbling experience, uh, and you develop a, a high sense of compassion, uh, for, you know, impoverished people.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Definitely. Yes, yes, yes. Uh, I heard that a lot from my father. He was a, a neurologist and a radiologist, and my brother, who is a cardiologist. And, um, you also mentioned that the way your professors teach, uh, a thought in your case, uh, is through anecdotes. And, and I also heard that from my father and my brother. And, and, and the reason for that is probably because, um, the way medicine is practiced in these countries is very practical. You have to solve issues. You have to solve whatever case you have in front of you with little resources. You don't have the$20,000 piece of equipment that you have at your disposal on your desk in, in the United States, uh, as a doctor. So, um, in, in Columbia, I, I heard all these stories about, uh, you know, hospitals, they don't even have cotton, uh,<laugh>. They don't even have alcohol. So you have to come up with creative solutions.

Speaker 2: 19:35

Well, you know, interestingly enough, and some of the things that we take for granted here in the United States, for example, is, uh, if you need a CT scan, they just take you from the emergency room to the CT scan room in, uh, El Salvador, for example, if you needed a CT scan, they would put you in an ambulance, take you to a different location, and you need, you would need to have$2,000 to get a CT scan. And, and so, uh, you know, so that, that's another disparity that we see a lot there, that a lot of the technology that we have in the United States is not as available in other countries.

Speaker 1: 20:06

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So Mauricio, let's talk about what you're doing today with, uh, human Site. I'm very, very intrigued with your, uh, company, with your product, with what you guys are doing is just fascinating. I mean, it sounds like science fiction. Let's talk about that, please,

Speaker 2: 20:22

<laugh>. Yeah. So, you know, human site is a, you know, is a, is a company in, uh, regenerative medicine. Uh, and we're actually defining a new category in regenerative medicine where we're capable of creating a, you know, universally implantable, uh, regenerative, uh, human tissue, uh, at a commercial scale, uh, for patients with, you know, life and limb threatening conditions. Uh, currently we're, uh, testing, uh, this, uh, this product, the ha or human acellular vessel, uh, in, uh, phase three clinical trials. It's not FDA approved just yet. Uh, but what we're doing is, uh, we're, uh, we're, uh, studying it in, uh, uh, AV access or arteri venous access for hemodialysis in, uh, vascular trauma, and then also in peripheral arterial disease, uh, in, in, in some phase two trials. And, and, you know, we have other applications that we're looking at right now, but, uh, the, you know, the, the two main ones that we're, uh, working on right now are AV axis and vascular trauma.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Okay. Fascinating. Yeah. Yeah, go

Speaker 2: 21:21

Ahead. Oh, no. And we're working with the fda, uh, to, uh, you know, to get to conclude these, uh, studies and, and then bring, uh, bring the, uh, results to them and hopefully get, uh, FDA approval.

Speaker 1: 21:32

When do you think that will happen? The FDA approval?

Speaker 2: 21:35

Well, we don't know just yet. Uh, you know, because of the pandemic and because of, uh, you know, several factors, uh, we, you know, there is no, uh, timetable right now. Uh, we, we would expect, uh, things, you know, maybe to look, uh, a little bit more concrete and within the next year or two. But, uh, you know, when, when discussing with the fda, and especially now because of the Covid Pandemic, uh, we, we do not know just yet. So, you know, I can't define a specific timetable.

Speaker 1: 22:00

Sure, sure. Do you have any plans for Latin America after you get FDA approval?

Speaker 2: 22:04

Well, the markets that we're looking at right now are the us. Uh, and then also with the, uh, collaboration, uh, with, uh, one of the, uh, leaders in hemodialysis, uh, foren. Uh, we're also exploring the, the European markets. We don't have a timetable yet for Latin America. Uh, but that's not to say that that won't happen, but right now we're really more focused on, on the US and, and, and Europe.

Speaker 1: 22:26

Okay. And from what you hear from your friends or colleagues, um, are there, is it a, a renew interest with Latin America, uh, in light of the U M D R? Have you heard anything about that?

Speaker 2: 22:39

Uh, not, I haven't heard about the U ndr, but, uh, I, what I do know is that there has been a significant, uh, interest, uh, from different companies, not just, uh, you know, the pharma, but also biotech and diagnostics to, uh, invest in, in Latin American countries, uh, because, uh, uh, we have seen a lot of, uh, researchers and excellent physicians emerge from, uh, Latin America, who, that nobody knows about. Uh, and, and a lot of experts, uh, in, in the infectious disease area, for example, in cardiology, uh, in nephrology, uh, at least for my, uh, uh, experience, have been phenomenal. And so now, you know, people are starting to realize that there's a lot of talent out there, and it's time to capture that.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Yes. Yeah, you're bringing up another good point. I think, uh, what's happening in Latin America, Mauricio, is that the region for the past, uh, 20 years or so has changed, is, has matured. And, uh, the middle class, the middle class is growing a lot, and people have access. And with the internet, with globalization, people have access to global education. They can study, uh, anywhere now, and they can, they can look at, at other countries as a destination for their, their university studies. And a lot of, a lot of Latin Americans, especially if you're from the middle, middle, upper class and you have access to, to, um, you have family members in the United States, and you have the money to travel and to get accepted to university, I see more and more and more people, and I'm 50 years old, I've seen the transition. You see more and more people traveling to United States or Europe to study, study. Just yesterday, I was, um, I interview the director of the biomedical program at the top university in Columbia, which is equivalent to Harvard in Columbia, and one of the top universities in, in Latin America, new Los Sandis. They have a fantastic, uh, biomedical, uh, program. And he just told me that, uh, one of his students get accepted, uh, at Stanford biodesign. Wow. You know, that's, that's quite a, quite a, an accomplishment is being the only Latin American and the only female accepted in this program. And I felt so proud. I'm like, wow, this is a big deal for us and for the region, because as you said, now you see more Latin Americans in the, in the biotech, biopharma, MedTech ecosystem, and that creates awareness and, and they, they can help bring technologies or research to the region.

Speaker 2: 25:27

Yeah. Recently, I can't remember his name, but, uh, there is a, uh, a physician from El Salvador, uh, who was, uh, uh, who's gonna be part of the space program in nasa. I can't remember if it's the mission to Mars, or, or maybe it's the moon. I can't remember, uh, right now what it is, but I mean, it's Salvador, uh, physician, and, you know, that's, you know, that's a big thing because, uh, you know, you don't see that very, uh, often. Yeah. So, so I mean, there's a lot of talent that's emerging, uh, from Latin America. Uh, you know, the, uh, interesting thing is that a lot of, uh, talented people leave their countries of origin to come to the United States to train and, you know, because of, uh, you know, the different circumstances, you know, people decide to stay in the, in the United States, uh, you know, because there are more opportunities for, you know, for growth or, or, or, or whatnot. But, uh, you know, but what we're seeing now is it's a little bit, uh, more competitive, uh, especially in some countries like Columbia, where people do come back and they have a very, you know, nice, uh, you know, uh, lifestyle<laugh> and just because they, they bring back what they learned from Europe or Canada or the United States as an example. So I, yeah. And I know many people, uh, from El Salvador who go to South America, and they come back, back and succeed. So, you know, there's, you know, there's, there's a, there's a new wave of, uh, a new wave from there.

Speaker 1: 26:51

Yeah, yeah. And actually the system is set up for that, for you to go back to your country. There's, there's a visa that is given to these physicians, uh, who come from, from, from overseas, uh, including Latin America, which is the j j one visa. Yeah. So you are required to go back to your country for two years. It's called the home residency requirement, because, uh, the, the spirit of the visa is that, yes, you're welcome to United States, you're welcome to our institutions, you're welcome to get a vacation here, but you have to go back to your country for two years at least, and, and apply what you learn, which is, it's a good spirit. I mean, I like that.

Speaker 2: 27:33

It's a good incentive, you know?

Speaker 1: 27:34

Yeah. It's a good incentive. But the thing is, if you wanna stay here, it's difficult because you have to break that home requirement, uh,<laugh> requirement. Uh, I mean, I'm home requirement visa requirement, and, uh, it's, uh, it can be costly. Uh, I, I've seen a few cases of where you have to go through attorneys and immigration court and stuff, because if you get education, get educated at Harvard, for example, the medical school, I mean, it's difficult to go back.

Speaker 2: 28:02

It really

Speaker 1: 28:03

Is. Yeah. Unless you have a great, great incentive to go back to Latin America.

Speaker 2: 28:06

Yeah, I agree.<laugh>.

Speaker 1: 28:11

All right, Mauricio, we're getting close to the end of the show. Uh, any final comments? Uh, any muscles of wisdom? Uh, in other words, what would you say to the CEO of a medical device or biotech company, uh, who is just starting to look at Latin America as a place to do clinical research or commercialization of medical technologies?

Speaker 2: 28:32

Yeah, you know, I think that, uh, there is a, uh, a, a tremendous, uh, opportunity in Latin America to, uh, to do some clinical research, to bring new products, uh, maybe sooner rather than later. Uh, you know, obviously people wanna test it in the United States and Europe first, but, you know, there's always a good opportunity, uh, and, uh, a population that's also sick and in Latin America that, you know, where you can also test a lot of products safely, of course. Uh, and, you know, but I think that the, the most important thing is that there is also a huge opportunity to, uh, educate and train physicians on the updated technology where, you know, they should not have to wait, uh, five, 10 years to, to learn about what we learned here last year. Uh, and so I, I think that, you know, being able to bring, uh, these products to, uh, and, and technology, to Latin America is really gonna help patient lives. And it's also gonna help with research because that encourages, uh, research in, uh, you know, for physicians, for residents, and, you know, maybe they can invent the, you know, next new technology. And so we, you know, why not bring it to them too?

Speaker 1: 29:35

Yes. Yeah. Well said. All right, Mauricio, thank you so much for being the show today. I really appreciate, um, you accepting my invitation. I enjoyed, um, our conversation. I'm sure listeners also did. So have a great day,<laugh>.

Speaker 2: 29:52

Appreciate, thank you very much. And, and you know, hello to everybody in Latin America,<laugh>.

Speaker 1: 29:57

All right, Mauricio Chao. Take care. Bye-bye.