438 Foreign Pharmaceutical Biz Operating in Vietnam

The number of foreign pharmaceutical enterprises registered to operate in Vietnam by the end of 2008 increased to 438, up 68 units against 2007, Dr. Truong Quoc Cuong, head of the Vietnam Drug Administration said at a meeting Jan. 13 between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and foreign pharmaceutical firms in Vietnam.

 

Most of them come from India, South Korea, China, France and Germany, said Cuong, adding that the MoH has to date granted circulation licenses to 2,300 kinds of foreign pharmaceuticals with the majority of antibiotics and antiphlogistics.

 

Cuong highly appreciated great contribution of foreign firms and foreign-invested drug production plants to the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry.

 

They supplied 60 per cent of the total medicine value for the domestic market in 2008, and provided a majority of materials for pharmaceutical production in Vietnam.

 

The whole drug value manufactured by the foreign-invested pharmaceutical plants have so far accounted for 22 per cent of that of domestic firms.

 

Vietnam has taken steps to ensure an open, fair and transparent environment for foreign pharmaceutical companies to do business in Vietnam, said Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang.