Colombia's pharmaceutical access system is facing a critical slowdown, with the average wait time for patients to access FDA and EMA-approved medicines stretching to 68 months—over five years from international approval to local availability. According to data from IQVIA presented at the 2026 Fifarma Summit, the country's approval and public availability process has deteriorated since 2022, driven primarily by a narrowing bottleneck in INVIMA (the national drug regulator) approvals rather than longer processing times per se, signaling systemic challenges in the country's once-regional healthcare model.