A drug factory of Đà Nẵng Pharmaceutical joint-stock company (Danapha) at the Hia Khánh Industrial Park. The city granted a licence for Danapha to develop a cutting edge pharmaceutical project in Hi-tech Park. — Photo Danapha

Da Nang (Biz Hub) — The central city has granted an investment licence to Da Nang Pharmaceutical joint-stock company (Danapha)'s first nano-technology and biotech project.

The city said the project is the third in its  1,010-hectare Hi-Tech Park in Hoa Vang district, 20km west of the city.

Danapha joins two Japanese companies – Tokyo Keiki Precision Technology Inc and Niwa Foundry, with a total investment of US$62 million. They are the first domestic investor since the park opened in 2013.

As scheduled, Danapha will invest VND1.5 trillion (US$67 million) to build a complex dedicated to Nano Technology/Bio Technology and a Hi-tech research and development centre. The projects will be built on an area of 7.7ha in three phases between 2017-21.

The complex plans to produce 1 billion tablets and 100 million units of injectable drugs per year from 2017-18.

Danapha also started an Asian alternative medice production factory in the Ho Khánh Industrial Park in 2009 – as its first plant meeting  GMP-WHO (good manufacturing practices as recommended by the World Health Organisation) standards.

Danapha, listed on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange as DNP, is one of the few enterprises in the central city investing in technological research and production.

It has completed research on a nanotechnology-based cancer injection that could lead to cheaper cancer treatments in the central region.

According to the latest reports, Da Nang has attracted 423 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth $3.68 billion to date. 

FDI enterprises earned revenue of $776 million —of which $522 million were from exports —and contributed $112 million to the State budget in 2015. — VNS