Asian Tech Press (Nov 03) -- According to the Vietnamese government website, AstraZeneca will invest an additional $90 million in Vietnam to help the country improve its pharmaceutical production capacity.

AstraZeneca had reportedly announced in 2019 that it would invest $220 million in Vietnam from 2020-2024.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính that the company will produce three unnamed major drugs in Vietnam in 2022-2030.

The deal comes a day after Vietnam Vaccine Corporation (VNVC) signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to buy about 25 million doses of the company's Covid-19 vaccine and an unknown number of doses of its Covid-19 long-acting antibody combination AZD7442, which studies have shown reduces by more than half the risk of conversion to severe disease or death in ambulatory patients with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19.