The modern pharmacy retail segment is welcoming an exciting new entrant in Japanese drug and cosmetics retailer Matsumotokiyoshi Co., Ltd, urging existing players to dust down their racing goggles.

The new regulation on raising the foreign ownership ratio ceiling has made Vietnam’s pharmaceutical companies more attractive to foreign investors, especially those from the EU and Japan.

Attracting foreign capital will allow Vietnamese pharmacy firms improve their competitiveness and develop the national pharmacy industry. However, analysts warn that the market may fall into foreign hands.

VietNamNet Bridge - The total spending on medicine in 2017-2021 will grow by 15-17 percent thanks to the population increase and improved income per capita. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts believe that modern drug retail chains will replace traditional drugstores in the near future, following the trend of modern supermarkets. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Many merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in the pharmaceutical industry have been made this year, in which the buyers were foreign investors. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Hau Giang Pharmacy’s profit amounted to 41 percent of the total profit of all listed pharmacy firms in the first quarter of 2016.

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VietNamNet Bridge - Indian pharmaceutical firms are eyeing the Vietnamese market as local companies cannot satisfy demand.  

Domestic pharmacy firms, which understand the power of foreign groups, do not intend to confront the big guys, but try to attach niche markets to earn small changes.