Russian enterprises set sights on healthcare and high tech in Vietnam

Many Russian enterprises in healthcare were interested in drug registration in Vietnam at the Expo Russia Vietnam 2019

As one of the 200 Russian enterprises participating in the third international Industrial Exhibition Expo Russia Vietnam 2019 in Hanoi last week, Veropharm is wishing to enter the Vietnamese market of over 95 million people.

“Vietnam is a market with great potential for us. Our pharmaceutical products have gained a reputation in difficult markets while most of your drugs are now imported,” Ivan Polyak, general director of Veropharm said.

Veropharm is one of Russia’s largest manufacturers of generic drugs, oncological medications, and medical adhesive bandages.

Truong Quoc Cuong, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Health, said that currently, there are 82 registered drugs and one biological drug from Russia available in Vietnam, but less than 60 are imported.

“Each year, Vietnam spends $5.2 billion on pharmaceutical products and $1 billion on medical equipment. The country imports over 50 per cent of drugs and 90 per cent of medical equipment,” he said at the roundtable on Russian-Vietnamese co-operation in the pharmaceutical and medical industry on the sidelines of the expo.

According to Cuong, pharmaceutical products and medical equipment are the two priority sectors, contributing to strengthening the two countries’ co-operation. Over the last decade, Russia has strongly developed modern medical equipment and applied high tech in producing drugs of natural origin. Meanwhile, Vietnam, thanks to its climate, has many different kinds of precious medical plants, which benefits prospects of co-operation.

Vietnam and Russia have added mutual recognition of each other's technological standards into the content of the inter-governmental meeting. “The two states’ Ministries of Health will assess the technical standards to decide,” Cuong said.

Sergey TSYB, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, affirmed that Russia considers health one of the major co-operation areas with Vietnam.