Domestically-made medicines making up 80 percent of total consumptionis one of the goals set forth in a national strategy to develop theVietnamese pharmaceutical industry until 2020.

The strategyalso envisions that all medicines are sufficient for disease treatmentand prevention, including vaccines for an expanded national inoculationscheme with 30 percent for public services.

All drugstores aswell as vaccine and medical biological product test stations areexpected to meet good pharmacy practice standards while the entiresector is able to meet 20 percent of materials demand for medicineproduction.

At a conference to launch the strategy in Hanoi onDecember 6, Deputy Minister of Public Health Pham Le Tuan revealed thatas many as 133 drug manufacturers and nearly 10,000 drugstores satisfygood pharmacy practice standards as of late November this year.

He pointed out that most of all domestically-made drugs sold in themarket are generic types which require low-cost, simple manufacturingthat often caused unhealthy competitions among producers.

The sector has yet to tap the potential of medicinal resources locally available, he said.

Besides, the drug distribution system is still weak in management,infrastructure and connectivity, and reliant on foreigners to regulateprices and supply of specialized drugs and vaccines.

Participants also talked about the safe use of medicines and the development of national products for vaccination campaigns./.