In a bid to capture the US$6 billion to US$7 billion pharmaceutical business opportunity in Vietnam, Chairman Shiing-Jer Twu of the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB) and the Vietnam-Taiwan Business Association (VTBA) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly expand the biotech and pharmaceutical industries in Taiwan and Vietnam, creating a win-win situation for both parties.
The MOU covers biopharmaceutical and CDMO contract manufacturing, smart and innovative medical materials, agriculture and health food, as well as cellular and regenerative medicine, said Mr. Chung-hsiun Wu, CEO of DCB. DCB will provide a full range of technical services and business promotion to assist Taiwanese companies to enter Vietnam and create the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market, leading the industry to quickly enter the CDMO, nucleic acid drug, regenerative medicine and cell therapy markets, so that the technology can be firmly established in Vietnam.
Vietnam is Taiwan's 5th largest trading partner and Taiwan's 4th largest source of foreign investment. In 2020, Vietnam's medical equipment market will be US$1.67 billion, making it the 8th largest market in the Asia-Pacific region, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.2%.
Mr. Tu said that the government is actively promoting the New Southbound Policy, and the types of industries in which Taiwan and Vietnam are cooperating have expanded from traditional industries to biotechnology and healthcare industries, and exchanges in the medical and health industries are becoming more frequent, so that Taiwan's health food, health products and Chinese herbal medicines are gradually gaining high attention from the Vietnamese market.
In addition, the Vietnamese government has been actively promoting the development of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in recent years, supporting local manufacturing and the introduction of technology from international sources. The signing of the contract and the exchange dinner expanded the scope of Taiwan's biopharmaceutical industry.
DCB invited Eirgenix, UBI Pharma, Swissray, Gongwin Biopharm, Orient EuroPharma, Grape King Bio, Simpson Biotech, UnicoCell Biomed, Acro Biomedical and Excelsior Bio-System attended the event.
Mr. Tu said he looked forward to the rapid development of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries in Taiwan and Vietnam through technological cooperation and joint development, linking the resources and advantages of both sides, creating more comprehensive progress in international economic and trade cooperation, talent exchange, resource sharing and regional linkages between Taiwan and Vietnam, and making Vietnam an important partner in Taiwan's new southward development in Southeast Asia.
