According to a statement of Sanofi Vietnam, the signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the APEC CEO Summit in the central coast city of Danang with the attendance of Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong and Sanofi executive vice president Olivier Charmeil.

Vinapharm will become a strategic partner of Sanofi Vietnam, a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) drug plant at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in HCMC. The plant is capable of annually producing 150 million boxes of high-quality medicine.

Sanofi has been present in Vietnam for more than 50 years. The expansion of the cooperation with Vinapharm since 1993 to strategic partnership demonstrates the company’s commitment to Vietnamese people’s health, said Nguyen Anh Tuyen, general director of Sanofi Vietnam.

Vinapharm chairman Le Van Son said Sanofi as a multinational drug firm is excellent at all phases of supply chains of healthcare products. The collaboration with such a pharmaceutical giant will help Vietnamese patients gain access to drugs meeting international standards.

Sanofi Vietnam has more than 1,000 employees and its three plants in HCMC meeting WHO-GMP standards account for 80% of Sanofi’s products in Vietnam. Last year, Sanofi Vietnam held a market share of 4% in Vietnam.