Social distancing and strict controls on hospital visits in 2020 disrupted healthcare demand.

SSI Company's analysis team estimates that Vietnam's total pharmaceutical revenue will only increase by nearly 3% over the same period, significantly lower than the average of 11.8% per year in the period 2015 - 2019.
On the ETC market channel, concerns about infection and strict hospital examination procedures limited the number of patients coming for regular health checks, causing the number of medical examinations nationwide from the first quarter to the third quarter to decrease by 10%. - 15%. On the OTC market channel, the need to buy medicine decreased, people switched from buying medicine to stockpiling hand sanitizer and masks, which are not the main products of most pharmaceutical companies, reducing revenue of entire industry.
However, 2020 is considered a "remarkable" year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities in the pharmaceutical industry with the participation of many foreign investors.
Regarding the outlook for 2021, SSI Research believes that the pharmaceutical industry is sensitive to Covid-19, but is gradually recovering. Accordingly, the analysis team estimates that Vietnam's pharmaceutical revenue in 2021 will increase by 15%, higher than the average growth in the 2015-2019 period.