China benefits from Vietnam ban on Indian pharma companies

Published: 17-Oct-2014

Exports rise by more than 40% in the first seven months of the year


Even as Vietnam has banned at least 45 Indian pharmaceutical companies from supplying medicines to its markets, China was the largest supplier of pharmaceutical materials to Vietnam for the first seven months of 2014, according to statistics from the Vietnam customs authorities.

Vietnam's Information on Trade and Industry Centre quoted the customs office as saying that during the seven month period, Vietnam imported pharmaceutical materials from China worth some US$120.9m, an increase of 43.8% year-on-year.

Major Indian players, such as Strides Arcolab, Medley Pharmaceuticals, Marck Biosciences, Marksans Pharma and UMedica Laboratories, have apparently been banned from the procurement list after the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) found their drugs to be 'not of standard quality'.

Deepak Mittal, the Indian consul general in Vietnam, has written a strongly worded letter to the ministry of health and family welfare.

He wrote: 'In view of the fact that a large number of Indian companies have been listed defaulters by Vietnamese authorities, it is requested that necessary background checks on these companies may kindly be undertaken in India to see if there are complaints against them from other countries, and steps be initiated to penalise them for bringing a bad name to the Indian pharma industries abroad.'

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