Vietnam’s Pharmaceutical Market to Overtake Neighbors in Next Five Years

The U.S. leading market researcher, Research and Markets, has forecast that the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market will outdo its neighbors in the next five years though it now ranks 12th out of 14 key regional countries in the company’s Business Environment Rankings for late this year, local media reported.

 

The Vietnamese pharmaceutical market is expected to see double-digit growth in the next five years, together with reform in the healthcare system and improvement in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, the company said.

 

Research and Markets, however, pointed out that low per capita healthcare expending; a strict pricing regime and the prevalence of fake medicines continue hindering investment in the market.

 

The company’s report also showed that Vietnamese authorities have firmly committed to curbing counterfeit trade, with the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department seizing a considerable haul of illegally imported traditional medicines in September 2008.

 

Vietnam is striving to address the current hospital overcrowding and shortage of drugs and medical devices, said the report, elaborating that immediate measures have been taken to restore drug supplies, including forcing large companies to comply with their contracts, allowing hospital directors to purchase batches of drugs with a value less than VND100 million (US$6,250) and fining smaller drug makers that have not fulfilled their contracts. (Urban Economy Online, VNA)