Pulling back the curtain on Vietnam’s healthcare innovation journey

Since the Healthcare Innovation Forum’s inauguration last year, we are glad to see positive dialogues and concrete steps towards solutions to improve patient access and foster an innovation-driven healthcare sector.

Emin Turan, Chairman, Pharma Group

We want to congratulate Vietnam on the ambitious, renewed goals in recent resolutions issued by the Party Central Committee, and most recently, Decision No.1156 providing the National Strategy for Pharma Sector Development to 2030 with a vision to 2045.

Towards successful implementation of these goals, we were honoured to welcome many world-leading experts, innovators, and leaders to share perspectives to this year’s forum. We anticipate that these discussions will not only shed light on the path of innovation but also uncover the opportunities and obstacles. They will inspire the essential factors and determination required to spearhead progress in healthcare innovation.

As pioneers in research and development, Pharma Group and our members are not only committed to enabling fast and sustainable access to innovative and quality medicine to the patient of Vietnam, but also to act as a catalyst to support the nation in its aspiration of a more productive, healthier, and wealthier society as a whole by realising the value of innovation.

Pharma Group has been a trusted partner with the Vietnamese government for more than 25 years. We are proud to be able to partner by providing our expertise in practical recommendations but also implementation support to our government stakeholders. We are also collaborating closely with our local counterpart to develop a more predictable and sustainable ecosystem for the pharma sector.

Based on a recent Pharma Sector Business Sentiment Report for the first half of 2023, it is important to note two key messages.

The first is that the industry (both local and foreign) has a positive sentiment on the opportunities and increased investments into the Vietnam market – this is especially noteworthy, noting the sentiment across other industries can differ.

The second is both local and foreign industry are aligned that an improvement in the legal framework will need to happen fast. More specifically, the streamlining of regulation affecting time to patient – procurement and reimbursement of medicines.

With the recent promulgation of the new national strategy to develop the pharma sector, we are delighted that some of our key recommendations have been adapted, such as the importance of creating a national steering committee headed by the prime minister.

Furthermore, we are further motivated by the fact that industry insiders have all identified the importance of the improvement of the legal framework. Specifically, there will be immediate opportunities with the current drafting/revision of the Pharma Law, the Health Insurance Law, and the tender decree to name a few, with all the relevant guiding circulars.

We would like to reiterate the foundations are in place in the form of various resolutions - the key focus here is how to transpose the direction effectively into specific, conducive regulations that will help Vietnam to achieve its aspiration.

Pharma Group is continuing its unwavering commitment to be a trusted partner with all like-minded stakeholders during this process.

Innovating to level-up Vietnam’s healthcare Scientists, doctors, policymakers, and businesses gathered on October 18 at the second Healthcare Innovation Forum in Hanoi to discuss new approaches to drive breakthroughs in healthcare sector development.