More than 200 participants join VIR's conference on pharma and medical sector

More than 200 participants join VIR's conference on pharma and medical sector

On the morning of July 20, Vietnam Investment Review held an event themed Realising Resolution 29: New Approaches for Pharma-Healthcare Development.

The half-day conference, took place from 8.30am to 12pm on July 20 at the Pullman Hotel in Hanoi. It was covered extensively across VIR’s various print and online offerings, on leading TV channels, and through other media agencies.

The event was organised as Vietnam’s pharma and healthcare sector is witnessing dramatic growth and significant contributions from all stakeholders, including foreign-invested enterprises. However, alongside the many achievements, significant obstacles lay ahead.

Vietnam's healthcare market is evaluated at over $20 billion, accounting for 6 per cent of GDP in 2022, and is forecasted to grow to $23.3 billion in 2025 and $33.8 billion in 2030.

Vietnam's pharmaceutical market is on a strong growth track, with its total value rising from $3.4 billion in 2015 to nearly $7 billion in 2022 – a compound growth rate of 10.6 per cent. Domestic production accounts for about 45 per cent of total drug value.

It is forecasted that by 2030, the total value of Vietnam's drug market will exceed $13 billion. Vietnam currently has 228 pharmaceutical factories that meet GMP-WHO standards.

At a conference on improving people's healthcare in August 2022, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh tasked the pharma and medical industry with studying the sector, applying biotechnology for pharmaceutical and vaccine production, promoting international collaboration in terms of technology transfer and labour force training, and learning from international experience on management and digital transformation.

As it industrialises and modernises, the healthcare sector needs to step up the development and implementation of its policies to attract foreign investment, cooperate in the exchange of professional experience, transfer technology, and create an enabling environment to promote innovation activities with high scientific and technological content.

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment said, “To draw investment in pharmaceutical production, the 2016 Pharmacy Law stipulates state policies on investment incentives for the production of medicinal ingredients, vaccines, and traditional, herbal, and rare drugs. It simultaneously incentivises scientific research on preparation technology and biotechnology for the production of new products.”

“However, the current support and incentive policies are focusing on the production of drugs in general, leading to the fact that production facilities mainly concentrate on investing in the production of generic drugs instead of placing priority on researching and producing high-tech or specialised new drugs. This is since the research and production of these drugs requires a large financial investment, time, and high-quality resources,” deputy minister Ngoc stated.

Le Trong Minh, editor-in-chief of VIR

Le Trong Minh, editor-in-chief of VIR said, “Attracting investment in the medical and pharmaceutical industry is not only to generate capital to improve and develop the industry’s capacity, we hope this event allows the experts here today to help us better understand the spirit of Resolution 29.”

“In general, despite the shortcomings of the incentive mechanism, attracting investment into this industry is becoming a sprint on both a regional and global scale, in which every country wants to take a bigger share. Just looking at the trillions of dollars that biopharmaceutical companies will invest in research and development over the 2020-2030 period, we can clearly see that this race is underway,” Minh added.

“We hope that the ideas exchanged and analysed at today's event will bring reference value in the process of institutionalising and concretising the guidelines and orientations from Resolution 29 in the medical and pharmaceutical industry, bringing opportunities for people to access advanced, high-quality medicines at a lower cost,” Minh said.

Panellists at the first discussion:

• Phan Duc Hieu, Standing Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly

• Do Van Su, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under The Ministry of Planning and Investment

• Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health

• Emin Turan, Chairman of Pharma Group

• Prof. Nguyen Hai Nam, Rector of Hanoi University of Pharmacy

Panellists at the second discussion:

• Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Development

• Prof. Dr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Deputy Director of the Institute of Natural Products Chemistry at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology

• Trinh Van Lau, Chairman of Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies Association

• Luke Treloar, Partner, Head of Strategy, and National Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at KPMG Vietnam

Hoan My Medical Group and Asan Medical Centre enter partnership Hoan My Medical Group, a major private healthcare network in Vietnam, and Asan Medical Centre, South Korea’s largest general tertiary-care hospital, signed a strategic partnership agreement to advance medical treatment in Vietnam on June 23 in Hanoi.

VIR to host health conference on July 20 Around 200 representatives from relevant ministries, agencies, international organisations, and the business community, including well-known experts, will gather at a health conference on July 20 to discuss innovative approaches to pharma-healthcare development.

Road for health funding must be clear Vietnam’s law on public-private partnerships, despite opening up numerous opportunities for the deployment of various projects, still consists of several obstacles that prevent investors from pouring capital into healthcare in this country.

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