National Assembly finalizes scale of new pharmaceutical projects receiving incentives and special investment support

The National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy, effective from July 1, 2025.

The National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy, effective from July 1, 2025.

The National Assembly has passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy. Photo: Nhu Y

Newly established projects in the pharmaceutical sector with an investment capital scale of VND 3,000 billion or more, disbursing at least VND 1,000 billion within 3 years from the date of being granted an Investment Registration Certificate or approved investment policy, are eligible for special investment incentives and support.

On the afternoon of November 21, with the majority of delegates in favor, the National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy, effective from July 1, 2025.

In the report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft, Chairwoman of the Social Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said that during the discussion, the opinions of National Assembly delegates all expressed agreement with the regulation that there needs to be a breakthrough in incentives to develop the pharmaceutical industry.

The draft submitted to the National Assembly for approval stipulates: New investment projects (including the expansion of such new projects) in the development of the pharmaceutical industry with a total investment capital of VND 3,000 billion or more, disbursing at least VND 1,000 billion within 3 years from the date of being granted an Investment Registration Certificate or approval of the investment policy, shall be entitled to special investment incentives and support as the subjects specified in Point a, Clause 2, Article 20 of the Investment Law, including: Research and development of technology, production or technology transfer to produce herbal medicines, traditional medicines from domestic medicinal sources, pharmaceutical substances, new drugs, original brand-name drugs, rare drugs, the first domestically produced generic drugs, high-tech drugs, vaccines, biological products;

Cultivation of medicinal herbs in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions;

Research to preserve and develop domestic precious, rare and endemic medicinal gene sources; create new varieties from medicinal gene sources of high economic value.

The Law assigns the Government to detail this Article.

Prescription drugs can only be sold online during group A epidemic quarantine.

Another notable new point is that the law has added regulations on the types of drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients that are allowed to be traded via e-commerce; and added the rights and responsibilities of pharmaceutical businesses using this method.

The National Assembly agreed to prohibit the retail sale of drugs via e-commerce with prescription drugs, except in cases of medical isolation when there is an infectious disease of group A that has been declared an epidemic according to the provisions of the law on prevention and control of infectious diseases; drugs subject to special control; drugs on the list of drugs restricted from retail sale.

Wholesale e-commerce of controlled drugs is also prohibited.

The Law also prohibits “trading in drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients through e-commerce through means other than e-commerce trading floors, e-commerce sales applications, and electronic information pages (also known as e-commerce websites) that sell products with online ordering functions.”

Thus, pharmaceutical businesses are allowed to sell non-prescription drugs online if the drugs are not under special control and are not on the list of drugs restricted from retail sale.

Non-prescription drugs are drugs that, when dispensed, retailed, and used without a prescription, are determined according to principles and criteria issued by the Minister of Health and are included in the List of Non-prescription Drugs published by the Ministry of Health.

In case of online sale of prescription drugs, it must comply with the regulations of the Minister of Health in case of medical isolation when there is an infectious disease of group A that has been declared an epidemic according to the provisions of law on prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Chairwoman of the Social Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh also said that there was a proposal to only allow the sale of non-prescription drugs through e-commerce.

This is to avoid the situation where prescription drugs and drugs that must be managed by prescription are sold retail via e-commerce or businesses get information about patients who need to buy prescription drugs on e-commerce platforms and make drug purchases elsewhere.

According to the National Assembly Standing Committee, the current Law on Pharmacy strictly prohibits doing business outside the scope of expertise stated on the Certificate of Eligibility for Pharmaceutical Business.

The new law also adds a provision prohibiting the retail sale of prescription drugs via e-commerce, except in special cases of medical isolation due to an epidemic.

Thus, when conducting drug trading activities, drug stores must be responsible for identifying customers and whether the transaction is wholesale or retail. If it is wholesale, the customer must be an establishment regulated by law, if it is retail, the customer must be a consumer and cannot sell prescription drugs.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/quoc-hoi-chot-quy-mo-du-an-moi-ve-duoc-duoc-uu-dai-ho-tro-dau-tu-dac-biet-d230586.html