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HCM CITY — Eli Lilly and Company, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, opened a representative office in HCM City on July 7.

In Viet Nam diabetes affects more than five million people, a number that has grown by 211 per cent in the past decade, and it also has one of the highest cancer prevalence rates in the world with around 150,000 people being diagnosed every year, Avraham Raz, the chief of the representative office, said.

Eli Lilly has expertise in both diabetes and oncology, he said.

Jannie Oosthuizen, the company's vice president and director of Asian Operations, said: "These are areas in which Lilly has an extremely strong history and extensive commitment to research and development."

It invested almost US$5.3 billion in R&D last year, he said.

"Viet Nam is the 11th country in the Asia Operations region that we are now operating in." — VNS