IC Asia Pharmaceutical Plant, Binh Doong Province, Vietnam

IC AsiaCo Ltd (Indochina Co Ltd), a subsidiary of Indochina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, began construction on the Dong103bn ($7.32m) pharmaceutical plant, located in Binh Doong Province's Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Zone in March 2000, becoming the country's largest investor in the field.

The plant was completed by December 2000, and operational from March 2001. A highly successful distributor of medical products in Vietnam for the previous five years, IC Asia ventured into manufacturing medicines for the first time.

ICA LABORATORIES

ICA Laboratories is a production company under the umbrella of the IC Asia group.

The company has now built a pharmaceutical factory including warehouse, laboratories and offices in the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) a little north of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

HBP DESIGN TEAM

The design team consisted of a joint venture between Hong Bang and Pegasus called HBP, which carried out architectural design and project management. Meinhardt Ltd carried out civil and structural engineering, and the Kaizen Total Quality Management Group Ltd, acted as cGMP consultants.

FACILITY STANDARDS

The entire facility was designed to be in compliance with international standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by US FDA, TGA and PIC. The quality systems of the facility were also in full accordance with ISO 9000.

FACILITY PRODUCTION

The output of the factory is a wide range of pharmaceutical items for the domestic as well as export markets. Initial output was 300 million units per year (current output 600 million units per year), with the potential to increase to a full production capacity of over 1 billion units per year.

The plant layout, environmental controls and overall design provide a modern and highly flexible manufacturing, packaging and storage facility.

In the first stage, the company has constructed facilities to produce liver medication and other OTC products in the form of tablets, coated tablets and hard/soft capsules. 70% of the output is distributed locally and the remainder exported to nearby countries.

COMPANY STRATEGY

The five years from 1996 to 2001 saw a process of establishment and development for IC Asia, with the formation of a dynamic, efficient and nation-wide distribution network and the implementation of international business strategy, development of the international business focusing on the market of the 10 members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

The company target for 2006 was the success of both prescribed and OTC products in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand and the success for OTC brands in the remaining 5 ASEAN countries.

The joint-venture between IC Asia and KGP – a leading ginseng product corporation in Korea – rapidly developed the brands of red ginseng such as Taeguk and Red Kogin in the European market (France and Scandinavia), US, Canada, Japan and Australia.

The company also entered into a trade agreement on natural products with the US' Wakunaga Corporation since 1998, and has had an agreement to co-operate on pharmaceutical technology with Sigma Co., Ltd. of Australia since 1999.