Vietnam Report's survey results show that 66.6% of businesses believe in the development of the pharmaceutical market this year, only 13.4% predict that they will face more challenges, while 20% hold the view that the market will remain stable, with no significant fluctuations compared to 2024.
.png)
The hospital drug distribution channel (ETC), which dominates the industry's revenue, is expected to continue to maintain and witness growth thanks to the universal health insurance policy and more relaxed and open hospital drug bidding regulations, along with the increase in demand for specialized pharmaceutical products, especially rare drugs, biological drugs and drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
In the long term, the pharmaceutical and medical equipment and healthcare market is assessed to have high growth potential and large room for development. According to IQVIA, Vietnam is among the countries with the fastest pharmaceutical growth rate in the world, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) expected to reach 6-8% in the period 2023-2028. This is a golden opportunity for Vietnam to become a strategic pharmaceutical production center in the region, if it promptly removes bottlenecks in raw materials, technology and international standards. In addition, according to Statista's forecast, the revenue of the Vietnamese medical equipment market has also recorded steady growth over the years, from 922 million USD in 2016 to 1.6 billion USD in 2024 and is expected to reach 2.5 billion USD in 2029.
A positive point for the pharmaceutical industry is that the participation of global pharmaceutical corporations such as Taisho (Japan), SK Group (Korea), STADA (Germany) in the Vietnamese market not only brings capital but also promotes technology transfer and builds a modern production ecosystem. Many enterprises such as Traphaco, DHG Pharma, Pymepharco have been taking advantage of these relationships to access advanced formulation techniques and develop domestic R&D capacity.
In addition, new policies from the Government are also paving the way for the industry. Notably, the revised 2024 Pharmacy Law, which has just come into effect from July 1, 2025, and the Pharmaceutical Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, set many important goals.
For example, it is necessary to meet 80% of the demand and 70% of the market value with domestically produced drugs; increase the rate of factories meeting EU-GMP standards to at least 20%; produce 20% of pharmaceutical ingredients domestically; complete digital transformation of the entire industry, integrate drug data into the national data bank.
According to the Drug Administration of Vietnam, Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry is making strong progress, from standardizing production to efforts to export to other countries. However, to reach the global level, the pharmaceutical industry needs to focus on technological innovation, self-sufficiency in raw materials, digital management and improving the quality of human resources.
If we make good use of policy opportunities and domestic market advantages, Vietnam can completely become a center for high-quality pharmaceutical production in the region by 2030, and further affirm its position on the world pharmaceutical map.
