Thailand's big pharma company AVS expands to Cambodia

AVS Innovation CEO Kampol Siriwattanakul (centre left) and Cambodian ambassador to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn (centre right) look forward to the company’s entry into the Kingdom’s market. ROYAL EMBASSY OF CAMBODIA in Bangkok

Phnom Penh Post/ANN, June 12 - Thai pharmaceutical manufacturer AVS Innovation Co Ltd plans to expand its pharmaceutical and medical products market to Cambodia, Cambodian ambassador to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement came following a meeting between Sorphorn and AVS Innovation CEO Kampol Siriwattanakul.

Sorphorn said the company wants to team up with local firms to ship in medical products and develop innovative tools and equipment to supply local and global market needs.

“We welcome the aforementioned project and have acquainted the company with the potential of Cambodian business opportunities, including the economic diplomacy policy that the Cambodian embassy is undertaking to promote trade, tourism and culture, ” he said.

Kampol said his company is currently producing medicine and equipment for Covid-19 to supply the domestic market.

“The company is looking for partnerships in Cambodia to further expand our potential, ” he said, without revealing a timeframe.

Pharma Product Manufacturing Co Ltd (PPM) director Dr Hay Ly Eang told The Post on Thursday that he welcomed the company expanding into the market.

“We want to work together, but in dealing with foreign companies we must consider how our collaboration can best benefit the nation, ” he said. “We are well able to compete with them, just as we are well able to cooperate with them.”

He added that PPM pharmaceuticals manufactures the painkiller Kinal – the first Cambodian produced medicine. It was developed by Cambodian pharmacist Dr Kok Sok Kim in September 1960.

The company currently exports its products to Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe.

“Our country’s pharmaceutical market is big, ” he said. “We are not afraid of quality and technical competition and we also see strong support from our government, ” said Dr Ly Eang.

PPM is a local producer of pharmaceutical products launched in 1996. The company has played a big role in the Kingdom’s pharmaceutical industry, both socially and economically.

As the sole survivor of his family during the Khmer Rouge’s reign, Dr Ly Eang went to France in 1976 at 21 years old. He became a pharmacist and opened a shop in 1990 in Nanterre commune in the western suburbs of Paris.