The yearly spend of each Vietnamese person on pharmaceuticals is US$56 and the figure will continue to rise to US$85 by 2020 and then US$163 over the next five years, according to the Assessment Report Vietnam Joint Stock Company (Vietnam Report).

The average spend on medicines increased from US$9.85 in 2005 to US$22.25 in 2010 and subsequently rose to US$37.97 in 2015.

The Vietnamese pharmaceutical market’s revenue is estimated at US$5.2 billion this year, a year-on-year increase of 10%. It is considered a market with high growth potential, drawing many foreign investors and multinational groups.

Vietnam Report forecasts considerable developments in the market over the next year as powerful retailers and distributors like Mobile World, FPT Retail, Digiworld, and Nguyen Kim enter the scene and world leading groups such as Sanofi, Taisho, and Abbott continue their mass penetration.

Regarding the difficulties and challenges facing the pharmaceutical sector, more than 90% of businesses who took part in a Vietnam Report survey identified the bidding mechanism for medicines and the dependence on imported materials. Around 90% of materials are imported from China and India, which results in 15-20% higher medicine prices in Vietnam than in the supplier countries.

VOV