Medicine market to grow 25% a year

Viet Nam’s pharmaceutical market will continue to grow rapidly by roughly 25 per cent per year to be worth around US$2 billion by 2012, according to the Drug Administration of Viet Nam.

The high annual growth would be attractive to foreign investors, the administration said in a report assessing the potential for foreign investment in the pharmaceutical industry.

It further said that spending on pharmaceuticals would increase because people were starting to care more and more about health. Local demand for health supplements, for example, was growing rapidly.

Besides health supplements, vaccine and antibiotic production were also attracting foreign investment, the administration said.

Director of the administration Truong Quoc Cuong said that the country currently had 39 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the pharmaceutical industry totalling $302 million, of which 22 specialise in the production of medicine.

Cuong said that the FDI trend in the country’s pharmaceutical industry had changed in the wake of the country’s accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2007, which opened new opportunities for foreign investors.

Under WTO rules, foreign investors are allowed to open branches in Viet Nam and directly import medicine but they are not allowed to distribute the medicine.

Under further regulations, the country will also have to cut import taxes on health products and medicine within five years of joining the international trade organisation.

According to statistics, the country spent an estimated $1.7 billion on medicine last year, up 18.9 per cent over the previous year. Medicine spending per capita last year reached $19.17, rising $3.32 over the previous year and up $13.70 against 2001. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Medicine market, Vietnam phamarceuticals