How is medicine distributed in Vietnam?
The value of the medicine market in Vietnam was over $4 billion in 2015, while revenue is expected reach $10 billion by 2020. Nguyen Minh Hoang, a Grab taxi driver, felt dizzy and drove the car to a drugstore, got the medicine, paid and left. Hoang, like the majority of Vietnamese, when feeling sick, usually go to drugstores and buy medicine to treat themselves. This Vietnamese habit, plus the high population, make the country an attractive market for pharmaceutical companies and distribution chains. According to BMI, Vietnam’s pharmacy industry has been seeing two-digit growth rates in recent years. In 2016, the industry had a growth rate of 10.2 percent. If considering the industry’s scale, its value exceeded the $4 billion threshold in 2015. IMS Health predicted that Vietnam’s medicine revenue would increase to $10 billion by 2020, though current spending on medicine is still modest, at $41 per head per annum, lower than Malaysia’s $54, Thailand’s $64 and Singapore $138.
