The Dong-A Socio Group said it would step up efforts to penetrate the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market starting with the supply of contraceptives.

Dong-A Socio Holdings_{동아쏘시오홀딩스}, Dong-A Pharma_동아제약 and Vietnam's General Office for Population and Family Planning (GOPFP) signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to provide oral contraceptives to the Southeast Asian country, at their headquarter office in Seoul.

Dong-A Pharma President Choi Ho-jin (left), Vo Thanh Dong (center), director of Vietnam’s General Office for Population and Family Planning, and Dong-A Socio Holdings President Han Jong-hyun pose for the camera after signing a memorandum of understanding at the group’s headquarter office in Yongdu-dong, Seoul, Wednesday.

Dong-A Pharma, in addition to supplying the pre-pills, will provide product and marketing training for local salespeople, the company said. The Vietnamese office for its part intends to market the pills through 170,000 employees at 62 agencies nationwide.

Vietnam is implementing various policies to limit rapidly growing the population, which is increasing demands for oral contraceptives. About 15.7 million Vietnamese women between the ages of 20 and 39 are now taking oral contraceptives.

According to market researcher BMI, the pharmaceuticals market in Vietnam grew to $4.7 billion last year with a population of about 93 million people. It is also an attractive market estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent to reach $7 billion by 2020.

With the signing of the MOU, Dong-A Pharma plans to expand its entry into the Vietnamese market, including health promotion products and generic drugs.

As Vietnamese people’s interests in health continue to increase, health promotion products and generic drugs will likely record double-digit sales growth, it said, adding that the increase of middle-aged population is also likely to lead to the higher demand for pharmaceutical products

"With the signing of the MOU with the Vietnamese government, I expect that the Dong-A Socio Group will gain more momentum in entering the global market, too,” said President Han Jong-hyun_한종현 of Dong-A Socio Holdings. "Dong-A Socio Holdings will continue to concentrate on globalization to make it a total healthcare group.”

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