Sales of pharmaceuticals in Viet Nam will maintain a double-digit growth and overtake those of its neighbours in the next five years, predicted the US -based Research and Markets.

Healthcare system reform and strengthened protection of intellectual property rights would help drive the growth, the market researcher said. Viet Nam now ranks 12th out of the 14 regional countries due to low per-capita expenditures on healthcare, a strict pricing regime and the prevalence of counterfeit medicines.

However, Vietnamese authorities now appear firmly committed to clamping down on the counterfeit trade, the researchers concluded, noting the seizure by the Ho Chi Minh City Market Watch of a large haul of illegally imported traditional medicines in September 2008.

The Ministry of Health has also been carrying out measures to shore up drug supplies, according to the researchers, including forcing major companies to comply with their contracts, allowing hospital directors to purchase batches of drugs with a value of less than 100 million VND (6,000 USD) and fining smaller drug makers that have not fulfilled their contracts. (VNA)