Former Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang and accomplices have been prosecuted for alleged wrongdoings in the purchase of materials for producing Tamiflu and the drug containing the Oseltamivir phosphate element to tackle the A/H5N1 flu virus in 2006.
Today, the Investigative Police Agency under the Ministry of Public Security said that it has proposed the prosecution of the defendants in the case at the Ministry of Health, the Cuu Long Pharmaceutical Company, and involved units including former Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has decided not to re-appoint Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang, because of his involvement in a spate of wrongdoings.
Despite concerted efforts to produce various types of medicines, Vietnam’s pharmaceutical firms still struggle to overtake foreign competitors due to their strong dependence on imported ingredients.
A Vietnamese company based in Ho Chi Minh City which makes drugs for the cure of Hepatitis B, has for the first time in Vietnam produced a drug for Hepatitis C in an injection form.
Vietnam imports over 85 percent of its medicinal ingredients and herbs to produce medicines; despite the country being home to various kinds of medicinal plants, reports Drug Administration of Vietnam.
Vietnam used to export traditional medicines, from the 1060s-1970s, but it is now entirely dependent on imported materials to manufacture drugs. Meanwhile, some rare species of herbs have been on the edge of extinction due to brutal exploitation, the topic of discussion at a meeting on May 30 in the southern province of Binh Duong.
The Vietnam Drug Administration is testing two children’s and infant medications following a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recall of over 40 over-the-counter drugs.
Drug store chains in Ho Chi Minh City have begun implementing “Good Pharmacy Practices” by consulting patients on how best to use drugs, selling only medicines of clear origins, and properly preserving products with the appropriate storage technology.
Drugstores that are certified as adopting Good Pharmacy Practices (GPP) would be allowed to sell drugs bought into the country from abroad by individuals, Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang said.
Controlling drug quality and prices, improving the pharmaceutical delivery system, and domestic drug production were on the agenda at an online conference the Ministry of Health held on June 23.
Drug quality control systems have many problems, resulting in substandard medicines on the market, said an official at a meeting held by Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MoH) on March 25 in Hanoi.
Vietnam has opened up its pharmaceutical market this year as part of its World Trade Organization commitments, putting domestic firms under greater pressure.
Tran Quang Trung, an inspector for the Ministry of Health, announced January 15 the results of probes relating to two cervical cancer vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix.
An inspection team has been set up to investigate allegations that drug-makers ran inappropriate lobbying campaigns before their cancer vaccines were approved for use in Vietnam.
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