Drug demand rising in Vietnam
Vietnam ranks 13th out of 175 countries for the fastest growing in drug spending, according to the Business Monitor International – an independent provider of proprietary data, analysis, rating, and ranking.
In 2012, Vietnam's pharmaceutical market was worth nearly US$3 billion, estimated to grow at a rate of more than 20% by 2017.
Drug consumption per capita in Vietnam is also climbing. A Vietnamese citizen spent US$104 on medicine products in 2010, compared to US$148 in China and US$51 in India. It is expected to double by 2015.
Meanwhile, local pharmaceutical production only satisfied nearly half of Vietnam's drug needs in 2012. Those products were almost all low-cost generics.