With a population approaching 100 million, a burgeoning health care industry, increasing consumer affluence, and relatively weak competition from local pharmaceutical manufacturers, Vietnam would appear to be a very promising market for foreign pharmaceutical companies. A study of the pharmaceutical patent filing statistics in Vietnam reveals that foreign investors are indeed interested in the market—but perhaps are not protecting their innovations to the extent we might expect by filing patents. In this article, we examine the most recent available statistics on:

• Pharmaceutical patent filing trends
• Pendency period for pharmaceutical patent applications
• Country of origin for patent filings
• Top 10 companies filing patent applications
• Breakdown of applications by indication and disease

The article concludes with recommendations for improving Vietnam’s system for patent and regulatory protection of pharmaceuticals.