Víctor González Torres

Víctor González Torres (born July 1, 1947, in Mexico City)[1] is a Mexican pharmaceutical businessman and politician, popularly known as Doctor Simi, the name of the character that represents his chain of companies, collectively called Farmacias Similares.

[2] In 2022 it became a trend to throw Doctor Simi plushies to singers in Mexico, and this was widely covered in social media.

His other brother, Jorge Gonzáles Torres, was the founder and first president of the 'Partido Verde Ecologista de México', or Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and was their presidential candidate in the Mexican elections of 1994.

Critics generally claim that generic medicines sold by Farmacias Similares cannot be considered as equivalents to those with recognized brand names, despite the Mexican law that requires bioavailability studies.

In television and written propaganda, he was compared with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, candidate from the political coalition called Coalición Por el Bien de Todos.

The IFE ultimately did not recognize votes for González Torres, considering that he did not meet the eligibility requirements established by the constitution.

Many media outlets covered his campaign and his struggle with the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) for legitimacy, while others considered him a sort of "comic relief".