NA deputy Nguyễn Vũ Trung. VNA/VNS Photo

The Prime Minister recently issued directives to control drug prices at source, ensure transparency and eliminate intermediary costs. National Assembly deputy Nguyễn Vũ Trung, director of the Pasteur Institute in HCM City, talks to Vietnam News Agency about the issue.

Currently, there are groups of medicines for which prices have been driven up unreasonably due to the involvement of too many intermediaries. From a management perspective, which stage requires the most attention in order to resolve the issue of medicine pricing?

We cannot definitively identify a single 'key' stage for intervention to lower drug prices; instead, we must manage the entire process from input costs and importation to distribution and retail. Most importantly, we need a complete and comprehensive perspective that accounts for all intermediate stages as well as the actual costs.

Drug prices are currently a major concern for the public. Recently, the Prime Minister has also instructed that drug prices must be controlled at the source, with transparency and the elimination of intermediary costs.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to cut unnecessary intermediaries in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment sectors, in line with the direction of improving management mechanisms in other essential sectors.

At the same time, sufficiently stringent regulations must be introduced to prevent businesses and intermediaries from colluding to dominate the market and push drug and medical equipment prices to unreasonably high levels.

During this National Assembly session, lawmakers are discussing additional provisions in the revised Law on Pharmacy. How can people gain access to medicines at reasonable prices without affecting supply?

It is clear that reducing drug prices requires the coordinated implementation of measures ranging from policy development to practical implementation.

However, drug prices cannot be reduced at any cost. The interests of businesses must be balanced, because selecting only the lowest-priced bids could affect businesses and potentially lead to supply disruptions.

In addition, we need to ensure transparency and make drug prices interconnected, while strengthening inspections of cases involving sudden price increases.

Only when comprehensive measures are implemented in a coordinated manner can people access quality-assured medicines at reasonable prices, while ensuring that medicines remain available in the market whenever patients need them.

The draft amendments to the Law on Pharmacy propose banning the sale of medicines through livestreaming on e-commerce platforms. What impact do you think this new provision will have on specific policies and people's access to medicines?

I fully support banning livestreaming for the sale and advertising of medicines. The reason is that medicines are not ordinary commodities. Using medicines without a doctor's prescription can have direct consequences for people's health.

When someone livestreams to advertise medicines, there is a risk that they may exaggerate the effects of the medicines and attract a large number of orders. Livestreaming makes it impossible to control whether buyers actually need prescription medicines or have any contraindications. Banning the sale of medicines through livestreaming on e-commerce platforms will help prevent counterfeit medicines and medicines of unknown origin from being sold online.

However, in considering a ban on selling medicines through livestreaming on e-commerce platforms, I believe we also need to identify appropriate cases clearly, so that an online medicine distribution channel that fully complies with the existing Law on Pharmacy can still be maintained.

This means allowing the conditional online sale of non-prescription medicines, while establishing very specific requirements for prescription medicines, which may be supplied only in special circumstances, such as medical isolation situations. These are also issues addressed in the law.

I fully support the proposal to ban the sale of medicines through livestreaming for advertising, consultation and order-taking purposes. At the same time, online medicine sales can still be maintained through pharmaceutical businesses that fully meet the required conditions.

However, regulatory authorities must clarify requirements for identifying sellers, checking prescriptions, ensuring proper storage and quality, and enabling the traceability of medicines sold and circulated on the market.

In particular, I believe online sales platforms must also be held responsible for dealing with violations. If we can achieve this, people will find it much more convenient to access legal medicines and will be better protected. VNS