On April 21, the Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health) issued a document requesting to strengthen inspection, examination, and handling of violations in pharmaceutical business activities.
Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration Le Viet Dung said that in the past, the mass media have reported on the phenomenon of buying and selling drugs, including prescription drugs and drugs that must be specially controlled on social networking sites. The Drug Administration has sent a document to units and organizations selling goods via e-commerce such as Meta Platforms Inc, Shopee Company Limited... requesting measures to control and prevent these acts.
The Drug Administration of Vietnam requires the Departments of Health to strengthen inspection and supervision of pharmaceutical business activities to ensure drug safety and quality. Pharmaceutical businesses must strictly comply with legal regulations, especially prevent the sale of prescription drugs and special control drugs online without permission. Pharmaceutical establishments need to update new regulations in the amended Pharmacy Law (effective from July 1, 2025) while controlling drug quality and legal documents of suppliers.
In addition, authorities need to coordinate with the media to propagate and raise public awareness about buying drugs at legal establishments, while being vigilant against inaccurate information on social networks, contributing to the fight against counterfeit goods and trade fraud.
Proposal to amend regulations on penalties for the trade of counterfeit and unknown drugs
The Ministry of Health is reviewing and proposing to amend and supplement Decree No. 117/2020/ND-CP dated September 28, 2020 of the Government on administrative sanctions in the health sector. This proposal aims to supplement regulations on strict sanctions for the acts of trading in counterfeit drugs, drugs of unknown origin, without invoices and documents, or selling drugs via the internet and social networks of organizations and individuals who have not been licensed to operate in the pharmaceutical field.
According to the Drug Administration of Vietnam, fake drugs are currently mainly sold through online platforms, especially social networks and unlicensed websites. To address this situation, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies to strengthen the fight against counterfeit drugs, conduct market inspections and strictly handle violations.
Recently, the Drug Administration of Drugs and Inspectorate of the Ministry of Health has collaborated with the Police Department to investigate economic and corruption crimes (C03), the Department of Internal Political Security (A03) of the Ministry of Public Security to hold a meeting with health departments of some localities such as Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and Ha Nam to discuss the strengthening of anti -fake drug fighting.
Although the work of preventing counterfeit drugs has achieved certain progress, the situation of counterfeit drug trafficking has not been completely overcome. The Ministry of Health requires competent authorities to continue to step up inspection and handling of violations, and at the same time recommend stronger measures to thoroughly resolve this situation.
