At a local pharmaceutical company

LookAtVietnam Bridge - Companies that do not have the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificates do not have to shut down production just yet, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Instead, the MoH will judge each company’s current circumstances to come up with provisory regulations, said Deputy Prime Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang at a conference on the implementation of GMP standards in the pharmaceutical sector on Thursday.

Companies not planning to establish GMP standards must either shift to other sectors or produce traditional medicines.

All pharmaceuticals must have their GMP certificates by the end of 2010 or stop production, said Quang.

Applying GMP standards for production will help local companies survive, develop and compete with foreign companies, said Truong Quoc Cuong, head of Viet Nam Department of Pharmaceutical Management.

To date, 61 local pharmaceutical companies have attained GMP-WHO standards in Viet Nam, and 19 met the GMP-ASEAN standards set up by the Association of Southeast Asia Nations. Sixteen drug companies do not meet GMP criteria yet.

Drug makers at the conference said they have faced many difficulties in obtaining and maintaining GMP-WHO standards.

They petitioned the Ministry of Health to extend the implementation of GMP-WHO for more time to arrange capital, modify practices and expand production in order to obtain the GMP certificate.

Le Ngoc Phan, chairman of the Central 2 Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Co’s management board, said his company spent two years and VND113 billion to bring production in line with GMP-WHO standards. Despite this, the factory can only be brought into operation next year. Phan asked the MoH to support the company to ensure stable jobs for its employees.

To avoid production shortage, the MoH has called on drug companies already meeting GMP standards to help companies that do not.

(Source: VNS)