Vietnam pharmas ask for price hikes

Arguing that imported material prices have increased considerably, resulting in higher production costs, Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies have asked for permission to raise the selling price of 125 drug categories, reports the Vietnam Economic Times. They also said that they need more capital investment in material facilities and build plants meeting Good Manufacturing Practice standards. The request comes at a time when the Deputy Prime Minister has called for stronger controls on the sector to ensure reasonable market prices for medicines (Marketletter April 10).

The newspaper also says the a Ministry of Health mission has inspected pharmaceutical factories and concluded that drugmakers had declared correct and sufficient expenses for production costs, and that some have had to incur losses in the last few years to maintain their products on the market. Mission members said that it was, therefore, reasonable to call for price hikes.