While Resolution 68, designed to grow Vietnam’s private sector, offers a strong policy foundation for expanding Vietnam’s private pharmaceutical sector, its success will depend heavily on overcoming entrenched structural challenges, Lawyer Ngo Thanh Hai of LNT & Partners has argued in an opinion piece published by the Vietnam Investment Review→view source.
Key details:
- Raw material risk: Over 90 percent of pharma inputs are still imported, leaving firms vulnerable to global supply disruptions
- R&D gap: Limited long-term R&D due to high capital risk and lack of favourable credit mechanisms
- Regulatory hurdles: Lengthy, non-transparent drug registration, licensing, and hospital bidding procedures slow market entry
- Talent shortage: Insufficient skilled professionals in pharmaceutical technology, biopharma R&D, and quality control
- Capital needs: Small- and mid-sized firms struggle to access private equity and risk capital for innovation
Ngo argues that unless institutional reforms are prioritised, particularly in streamlining regulatory processes, developing domestic input capacity, and strengthening pharma education, Vietnam’s private sector will struggle to achieve the vision set out in Resolution 68.
That is to say, the current gaps leave the industry exposed to external shocks and undermine its long-term competitiveness.
See also: Vietnam’s Private Sector Development Push: Unpacked