Drugs giant GSK, Pharmacity join hands to care for Vietnam patients

GSK Vietnam, a unit of global biopharma giant GSK, has embarked on a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s Pharmacity to enhance the latter’s pharmacist capability to assist patients in adhering to doctors’ treatments.

Pharmacity, one of the most trusted pharmacy chains in Vietnam, signed the partnership with Britain-backed GSK Vietnam on May 23 in Ho Chi Minh City, with British Consul General Emily Hamblin witnessing.

The two companies said they are working together to make life better for millions of patients in Vietnam, especially those affected by community-acquired respiratory tract infections.

To achieve this goal, Pharmacity and GSK Vietnam have three strategic priorities: enhancing pharmacists’ capability; ensuring medicine availability; and increasing patient care.

The British Consul General said: “Healthcare has always been an important and prioritized area in the cooperation between the UK and Vietnam. I highly appreciate British biopharmaceutical businesses and their Vietnamese retail pharmacy partners for their resilient efforts to widen access to innovative medicines, helping Vietnamese people prevent and treat diseases.”

For the first of the three priorities, together with Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University in HCMC and medical experts, GSK Vietnam and Pharmacity will co-develop continuous medical education programs with a focus on strengthening the capability and expertise of Pharmacity’s pharmacists. They will learn how to approach and consult patients, guide them on taking medicine appropriately (like right medicine, right dose, right time), and notify them of common adverse events and/or medicine interactions.

The second is the implementation of the "Medicine First" project with Phytopharma as a strategic distribution partner. Every customer coming to Pharmacity will find appropriate GSK medicines, especially for patients undergoing treatment with a doctor's prescription for a variety of prevalent community-based respiratory infections in both adults and children, such as otitis media, sinusitis, bacterial purulent tonsillitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

Phytopharma is already a major distributor in Vietnam for drugs giants and suppliers like Pfizer, Zuellig Pharma, DKSH, and AstraZeneca.

The third priority in the new GSK-Pharmacity partnership is providing patient care. In this, Pharmacity’s pharmacists care for and help patients better understand diseases, helping them with treatment adherence.

“GSK expects that this partnership with Pharmacity will contribute to strengthening the end-to-end supply chain, helping patients access medicine when they need them, improving the pharmacist capability, thereby guiding patients to better adhere to doctors’ treatments,” said GSK Vietnam president Pham Thi My Lien.

She added that her company plans to work with strategic partners and healthcare professionals to make a positive impact on the health of more than one-third of the Vietnamese population in the next three years.