Sao Thai Duong: The journey to bring Vietnamese herbal products to the world
After two decades of expansion and development, Sao Thai Duong has become a leading science and technology enterprise in the field of manufacturing and trading herbal products, including health protection products, traditional medicines and herbal medicines.
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| Sao Thai Duong representative receives the National Quality Award, the Global Performance Excellence Award – (GPEA) 2019-2020. (Photo courtesy of the firm) |
On April 25, the Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) held a ceremony to award the National Quality Award, the Global Performance Excellence Award – (GPEA) 2019-2020.
The National Quality Award is an award given by the Prime Minister to enterprises with outstanding achievements in improving the quality of products and services, competitiveness. It takes into account the operational efficiency, integration with regional and world economies of each enterprise.
In 2020, the Prime Minister signed a decision to give the awards to 55 enterprises. Among those, 19 got the National Quality Gold Award and the rest, the National Quality Award.
Sao Thai Duong Joint Stock Company (Sao Thai Duong) is one of 19 enterprises that won the National Quality Gold Award. “This year is the first time Sao Thai Duong participated in the contest. It is an honor and pride to won the Gold Award - the highest award of the contest”, said Nguyen Thi Huong Lien - Deputy General Director of the Sao Thai Duong.
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| Deputy General Director of Sao Thai Duong Nguyen Thi Huong Lien. (Photo courtesy of the firm) |
Sao Thai Duong was established in 2000 by two co-founders, Pharmacist Nguyen Huu Thang and Master of Pharmacology Nguyen Thi Huong Lien. Winning the National Quality Gold Award results from the strenuous efforts of Sao Thai Duong in 20 years of growth and development.
After two decades of development, Sao Thai Duong has become a leading science and technology enterprise in the field of manufacturing and trading herbal products. Sao Thai Duong products include healthcare ones, traditional medicines and herbal medicines.
Sao Thai Duong has built a modern infrastructure with the main office based in Ha Noi. Its building in Ha Noi houses a unique museum to display precious medicinal herbs of Viet Nam. In addition to the Ha Noi office, Sao Thai Duong has a branch in Ho Chi Minh city and three factories in Ha Nam. The three factories in Ha Nam are built with a total of nearly 3 hectares, fully equipped with production lines for medicines, cosmetics, vitamin supplements, bio-products and medical equipment.
Sao Thai Duong is the first company in Viet Nam to meet GMP ASEAN standards for cosmetic production. Sao Thai Duong is a pioneer investing in a system of factories meeting GMP pharmaceutical standards, factories achieving GMP cosmetic, ISO 14000 standard, HALAL certification and FDA certification for export to the US market.
Sao Thai Duong aims to develop a source of organic medicinal herbs in line with the USDA American and European standards. Sao Thai Duong has invested in a 30-hectare area to grow medicinal plants in Son La to produce herbal products in a closed process. The company expects to expand the plantation to approximately 300 hectares in 2025. Applying modern technological production line and taking raw materials from international standard organic medicinal farm, Sao Thai Duong one of a few companies that meet the GMP standard.
Over the recent years, Sao Thai Duong has been a forerunner in the export of scientific and technological products of Viet Nam, well-received under challenging markets such as the US, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and the UK.
Hundreds of research projects on new pharmaceuticals and cosmetics from Vietnamese herbal sources
Constantly investing in the expansion of production, Sao Thai Duong at an early date focused on its development as an enterprise associated with scientific research. Sao Thai Duong is striving to become the most significant scientific and technological enterprise in traditional medicine in Viet Nam. The company has developed a strategy to attract talents, employees, and staff members to meet the needs of the development and expansion of the company. Sao Thai Duong has about 1,200 staff members, as well as more than 80 masters and university pharmacists, over 400 pharmacists at high school and pharmacy colleges and about 200 engineers/bachelors.
Sao Thai Duong has participated in high-tech national schemes of the Ministry of Science and Technology. With highly relevant research, Sao Thai Duong has successfully applied the outcomes of research projects and launched product lines with high applicability, meeting the market's needs. In 2016, Sao Thai Duong was certified as a science and technology enterprise. This certification is a remarkable achievement for Sao Thai Duong's scientific research efforts.
Annually, the company spends 10% of its revenue on research and development. Sao Thai Duong has carried out hundreds of studies at the company by themselves, holding 13 patents and valuable solutions. Among them, two inventions won a Bronze medal at the International Patent Exhibition in Taiwan in 2019; one invention was awarded at the 2018 invention competition organized by the International Intellectual Property Organization in conjunction with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Viet Nam.
Over the past ten years, the company has been investing in more than 70 pre-clinical research projects on experimental animals, 21 clinical trials at all levels at seven hospitals in Viet Nam, one project at the national program on hi-tech infrastructure development research, and develop new drugs from medicinal herbs.
The research work is mainly on developing new drugs from herbal sources and traditional Vietnamese medicine principles combined with modern pharmaceutical techniques.
Aspiration to bring the quintessence of Vietnamese medicinal herbs to the world
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, with its internal strength, SUNSTAR quickly realized the challenges and opportunities. The company quickly cooperated with partners in technology transfer, conducting clinical research, producing two sets of medical equipment for diagnosis and detecting coronavirus called "One step RT-PCR COVID-19 kit THAI DUONG" and "COVID-19 RT-LAMP COVID-19 kit THAI DUONG". These kits are provided to the Vietnamese government, contributing to effectively fighting the pandemic. Over 50,000 RT-PCR test kits and tens of thousands of COVID-19 anti-epidemic products worth over VND 20 billion have been promptly given to frontline units of Viet Nam.
SUNSTAR's products get beyond the domestic market to demanding ones such as the US, Europe, and Australia. The revenue of SUNSTAR has had remarkable growth: the 2020 income was twice that of 2017.
Mindful of environmental protection, sustainable development for the community, supporting disadvantaged groups in remote areas, SUNSTAR initiated the "Classroom Bookcase" with entrepreneurs providing tens of thousands of copies of quality books for children in the rural, mountainous schools. It also joined physicians and doctors organizing and participating in lens replacement surgery programs, bringing light to hundreds of older people, providing free medical examination and treatment to thousands of poor people. SUNSTAR also gives technical guidance to farmers in growing and buying medicinal herbs to help increase incomes for rural and mountainous people.
On the strategic development orientation of SUNSTAR in the coming time, Deputy General Director of SUNSTAR Nguyen Thi Huong Lien said: "From the day of its establishment, SUNSTAR has identified the core of the business is to bring happiness to everyone. Ever since, the company's brand development work has always focused on continuous innovation and quality improvement to create the best products to satisfy customers' needs. With products from medicinal herbs made in Viet Nam, SUNSTAR not only hopes to provide Vietnamese people with better quality products but also strives to bring the national herbal essence beyond the borders to international friends."
(TGVN)
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