Ministry bans drug firm
Vietnam Medicine Management Department (VMMD) October 28 said it will temporarily stop approving the import order of drugs and related materials of the pharmaceutical firm Yteco, accused of misconduct, as of November 1.
HCM City Medical Import-Export Corp (Yteco) was accused of modifying its import orders of medicines and pharmaceutical products since 2002 in order to buy other types of non-permitted medicines to earn larger profits. VMMD inspectors and the HCM City Department of Health recently uncovered the misconduct.
According to the law, a drug company in Vietnam needs a permit from VMMD to import pharmaceutical products. In other words, VMMD allocates import ‘quotas’ for each pharmaceutical company and approves what types of medicines are allowed for import.
VMMD also said it will refer Yteco’s alleged wrongdoings to inspectors of the Ministry of Health for further investigation. In the near future, the HCM City health department will be responsible to reform the firm’s operations.
As well, the department will carry out similar inspections on other pharmaceutical enterprises in Hanoi, it said.
