Former Deputy Minister of Health Doctor Le Van Truyen spoke with the LaoDong (Labour) newspaper about why Vietnamese people are still hesitantto use domestically produced pharmaceuticals.
* Vietnamese people still don't want to use local drugs. Is it because local drugs lack quality?
The habit of preferring imported drugs over local ones by doctors andpatients is due to many reasons, one of which is that it is aconsumption habit of the Vietnamese.
Many local dugproducers aren't transparent enough or provide enough evidence about theeffects of their drugs compared with imported drugs. This is in spiteof the significant milestones achieved by the country's medical andpharmaceutical industry.
This has deepened people's doubts on the effectiveness and reliability of local drugs.
I think treatment effects are a bigger factor informing the beliefs ofdoctors and patients rather than colourful branding and advertisementson mass media.
* Why does Vietnam still importspecific drugs when some of the patents protecting these drugs haveexpired and these drugs could be made locally?
Mostspecific drugs used in specialised and central hospitals are drugsinvented by multi-national pharmaceutical companies and still protectedby patents - generally 20 years.
It would beprolonged to 25-30 years in bilateral and multilateral free tradeagreements between developed and developing countries.
This prevents the local pharmaceutical industry from producing these specific drugs.
However, local drug producers should develop plans for the earlyresearch and exploitation of drugs with patent protections so that theycan be produced as a generic drug when they are no longer protected.
To implement the plan, local producers should invest for the long-termin product research and development; and decide their mid-term andlong-term product objectives that incorporate Vietnam's disease modelsand the timing of drug patents around the world.
*The quality of pharmaceutical products is yet to be proven and few localproducts are yet to be exported despite firms meeting World HealthOrganisation GMP (Good Manufacture Practice) standards. What are yourthoughts on this?
Vietnam's pharmaceutical industryhas developed strongly after 20 years of reform. The country has morethan 130 GMP drug firms that supply around 50 percent of drugconsumption. The pharmaceutical industry has reached growth of 12-15percent per year, triple the GDP growth rate of recent years.
At the moment, there are around 12,000 locally manufactured genericdrugs along with a similar number of imported drugs that has created acompetitive environment in drug supply and prevented monopolies on drugpricing.
Locally made drugs have been produced onmodern production lines meeting the GMP standards of the WHO, Vietnamand guidelines of developed countries like Japan, the US and the EU.
After nearly applying GMP-WHO quality management systems, some localproducers volunteered to implement the GMP-PIC (PharmaceuticalInspection Co-operation Scheme) standards designed to apply goodmanufacturing practices for medicinal products in developed countriesparticipating in the PIC.
By applying GMP-PIC, drugquality would be improved and the country's pharmaceutical industrywill gradually meet global standards. This will open the door to exportlocal drugs to developed countries creating opportunities for localfirms who can capitalise on the fact that GMP-PIC is recognised bydeveloped countries.
For herbal remedies alone,there are not many factories meeting GMP-WHO standards on herbalmedicine. This is a technical barrier for medicine produced from thesignificant herbal sources and millions of years of experience intraditional medicine.-VNA
* Vietnamese people still don't want to use local drugs. Is it because local drugs lack quality?
The habit of preferring imported drugs over local ones by doctors andpatients is due to many reasons, one of which is that it is aconsumption habit of the Vietnamese.
Many local dugproducers aren't transparent enough or provide enough evidence about theeffects of their drugs compared with imported drugs. This is in spiteof the significant milestones achieved by the country's medical andpharmaceutical industry.
This has deepened people's doubts on the effectiveness and reliability of local drugs.
I think treatment effects are a bigger factor informing the beliefs ofdoctors and patients rather than colourful branding and advertisementson mass media.
* Why does Vietnam still importspecific drugs when some of the patents protecting these drugs haveexpired and these drugs could be made locally?
Mostspecific drugs used in specialised and central hospitals are drugsinvented by multi-national pharmaceutical companies and still protectedby patents - generally 20 years.
It would beprolonged to 25-30 years in bilateral and multilateral free tradeagreements between developed and developing countries.
This prevents the local pharmaceutical industry from producing these specific drugs.
However, local drug producers should develop plans for the earlyresearch and exploitation of drugs with patent protections so that theycan be produced as a generic drug when they are no longer protected.
To implement the plan, local producers should invest for the long-termin product research and development; and decide their mid-term andlong-term product objectives that incorporate Vietnam's disease modelsand the timing of drug patents around the world.
*The quality of pharmaceutical products is yet to be proven and few localproducts are yet to be exported despite firms meeting World HealthOrganisation GMP (Good Manufacture Practice) standards. What are yourthoughts on this?
Vietnam's pharmaceutical industryhas developed strongly after 20 years of reform. The country has morethan 130 GMP drug firms that supply around 50 percent of drugconsumption. The pharmaceutical industry has reached growth of 12-15percent per year, triple the GDP growth rate of recent years.
At the moment, there are around 12,000 locally manufactured genericdrugs along with a similar number of imported drugs that has created acompetitive environment in drug supply and prevented monopolies on drugpricing.
Locally made drugs have been produced onmodern production lines meeting the GMP standards of the WHO, Vietnamand guidelines of developed countries like Japan, the US and the EU.
After nearly applying GMP-WHO quality management systems, some localproducers volunteered to implement the GMP-PIC (PharmaceuticalInspection Co-operation Scheme) standards designed to apply goodmanufacturing practices for medicinal products in developed countriesparticipating in the PIC.
By applying GMP-PIC, drugquality would be improved and the country's pharmaceutical industrywill gradually meet global standards. This will open the door to exportlocal drugs to developed countries creating opportunities for localfirms who can capitalise on the fact that GMP-PIC is recognised bydeveloped countries.
For herbal remedies alone,there are not many factories meeting GMP-WHO standards on herbalmedicine. This is a technical barrier for medicine produced from thesignificant herbal sources and millions of years of experience intraditional medicine.-VNA
