Vietnam 's pharmaceutical market will continue to grow rapidly byroughly 25 percent per year to be worth around 2 billion USD by 2012,according to the Drug Administration of Vietnam.
The highannual growth would be attractive to foreign investors, theadministration said in a report assessing the potential for foreigninvestment in the pharmaceutical industry.
It further saidthat spending on pharmaceuticals would increase because people werestarting to care more and more about health. Local demand for healthsupplements, for example, was growing rapidly.
Besideshealth supplements, vaccine and antibiotic production were alsoattracting foreign investment, the administration said.
Director of the administration Truong Quoc Cuong said that the countrycurrently had 39 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in thepharmaceutical industry totalling 302 million USD, of which 22specialise in the production of medicine.
Cuong said thatthe FDI trend in the country's pharmaceutical industry had changed inthe wake of the country's accession to the World Trade Organisation in2007, which opened new opportunities for foreign investors.
Under WTO rules, foreign investors are allowed to open branches inViet Nam and directly import medicine but they are not allowed todistribute the medicine.
Under further regulations, thecountry will also have to cut import taxes on health products andmedicine within five years of joining the international tradeorganisation.
According to statistics, the country spentan estimated 1.7 billion USD on medicine last year, up 18.9 percent overthe previous year. Medicine spending per capita last year reached 19.17USD, rising 3.32 USD over the previous year and up 13.70 USD against2001./.
The highannual growth would be attractive to foreign investors, theadministration said in a report assessing the potential for foreigninvestment in the pharmaceutical industry.
It further saidthat spending on pharmaceuticals would increase because people werestarting to care more and more about health. Local demand for healthsupplements, for example, was growing rapidly.
Besideshealth supplements, vaccine and antibiotic production were alsoattracting foreign investment, the administration said.
Director of the administration Truong Quoc Cuong said that the countrycurrently had 39 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in thepharmaceutical industry totalling 302 million USD, of which 22specialise in the production of medicine.
Cuong said thatthe FDI trend in the country's pharmaceutical industry had changed inthe wake of the country's accession to the World Trade Organisation in2007, which opened new opportunities for foreign investors.
Under WTO rules, foreign investors are allowed to open branches inViet Nam and directly import medicine but they are not allowed todistribute the medicine.
Under further regulations, thecountry will also have to cut import taxes on health products andmedicine within five years of joining the international tradeorganisation.
According to statistics, the country spentan estimated 1.7 billion USD on medicine last year, up 18.9 percent overthe previous year. Medicine spending per capita last year reached 19.17USD, rising 3.32 USD over the previous year and up 13.70 USD against2001./.
