~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
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Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Invests In Vietnam


HO CHI MINH CITY - Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Rhone-Poulenc S.A., today officially opened a new pharmaceutical production unit located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The new unit represents a first in Vietnam as Rhone-Poulenc is the only international pharmaceutical company to construct and equip a factory where the standards of production, safety and quality are on par with the most modern facilities in the world.

Located in the city centre, the new plant will manufacture pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics and anti-inflammatories in different forms (tablets, capsules, creams and gels) for the Vietnamese market. With a current production capacity of over 60 million sales units, it is one of the largest pharmaceutical production units in the Asia Pacific region.

A total of $10 million was invested in the site, which was completed within 14 months. Validation and control procedures of product batches will be completed within the next few months. The site has begun the various procedures required to obtain certification for ISO 9002, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) Asean and GMP International before the end of 1998.

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Vietnam, until now known as Vinaspecia, is a joint venture between YTECO, representing the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer.

Present in Vietnam since 1938, Rhone-Poulenc has offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Cantho. With a total of 300 employees, the Group recorded sales of $40 million in 1997. The Group's subsidiary, Rhone-Poulenc Agro, also markets a wide range of crop protection products in Vietnam, including Regent(R), a new rice insecticide based on the fipronil molecule, effective at extremely low dose rates.

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer is a global pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving human health. Rhone-Poulenc is a leading life sciences company growing through innovations in human, plant and animal health and through its specialty chemicals subsidiary, Rhodia. With sales in 1997 of FF90 billion (US$15 billion), the company employees 68,000 people in 160 countries worldwide.

NOTE: This press release was issued earlier today in France. SOURCE Rhone-Poulenc Rorer

PRNewswire - July 10, 1998.