Foreign partners encouraged in VN’s pharmacy market

Mr. Quang made the statement at a conference yesterday in Hà Nội between the Ministry of Health and foreign enterprises operating in the pharmaceutical sector in Việt Nam.
The event was held to help foreign investors understand Việt Nam’s WTO commitments, the national pharmacy’s orientations in the years to come, and regulations on clinical experiments of medicines.    

The MoH informed that since January 1, 2009, all foreign invested companies and those without commercial representatives in Việt Nam only have the right to import pharmaceutical products. They are not allowed to distribute medicines in Việt Nam’s territories.

As of that day, along with enforcing regulations on export and import rights of foreign enterprises, Việt Nam has designed a roadmap to apply the medicine registration procedures in line with the ASEAN Common Technical Requirement (ACTR) and the ASEAN Common Technical Dossier (ACTD) and adopt reasonable mechanisms as well as policies to encourage domestic economic sectors to participate in producing, trading and distributing medicines.

According to the Việt Nam Administration of Pharmacy, up to late 2008, 438 foreign pharmaceutical companies were licensed in Việt Nam, 68 one higher than 2007. They made up 60% of the value of the domestic market.

Enterprises from India and the Republic of Korea account for the largest percentage (34.5%) of the total number. 

By Khánh Phương