Delivering a report at the ceremony, Dr Vu Tuan Cuong, Director of the Drug Administration of Viet Nam, noted that each stage of development had brought different requirements and challenges. However, generations of the agency’s officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers had made every effort to fulfil their duties, with the overarching goal of ensuring that people had access to medicines that were of high quality, safe, effective and reasonably priced.
Viet Nam’s pharmaceutical sector has achieved notable progress to date. The pharmaceutical market is currently worth approximately 7 billion USD and is forecast to grow by 10%–15% annually. The system for the production, distribution, and supply of medicines has continued to expand.
Addressing the ceremony, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan praised and acknowledged the achievements and contributions made by generations of leaders, officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the Drug Administration of Viet Nam over the past 30 years.
Despite these achievements, Viet Nam’s pharmaceutical sector continues to face numerous difficulties and challenges.
The National Strategy for the Development of Viet Nam’s Pharmaceutical Industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045, and the Programme for the Development of the Domestic Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Materials Industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045, have established orientations for developing Viet Nam’s pharmaceutical sector to a level comparable with advanced countries in the region. The aim is to ensure that people have access to medicines at reasonable costs while enhancing capacity for pharmaceutical research, production, and technology transfer.
To achieve these goals, Minister Dao Hong Lan urged the Drug Administration of Viet Nam to continue proactively advising on the improvement of institutions, policies, and legislation governing pharmaceuticals towards greater consistency, transparency, stability, and feasibility. This should ensure strict management of the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines while creating a favourable environment for investment, research, innovation, and the development of the pharmaceutical industry, and enhancing domestic medicine production capacity to meet international standards.
The health sector’s top official also directed the Drug Administration of Viet Nam to advise on accelerating the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, particularly pharmaceutical ingredients, and encourage businesses to conduct research and development, acquire and transfer technologies for producing different pharmaceutical formulations, including high-tech medicines, biological medicines, specialised medicines, rare medicines, and modern dosage forms. The agency should also facilitates technology transfer and strengthen links between businesses and research institutes, universities, and hospitals, while attracting investment resources from domestic and foreign enterprises for research and development of pharmaceutical chemical products.
In addition, administrative reform and digital transformation should be expedited, including the digitisation of the national medicine distribution management system to ensure transparency. A unified, accurate pharmaceutical data system capable of connecting and sharing information should be developed, while the use of technology should be increased in registration, licensing, quality management, traceability, and market monitoring. Domestic businesses should be encouraged and supported in conducting research and collaborating on technology transfer.
