Buymed and DHG Pharma: Building Closer Connections with Cambodia’s Provincial Pharmacies

How a longer-term market approach can help pharmacies bring relevant healthcare options closer to the communities they serve.

For many people living beyond Phnom Penh, the local pharmacy is often the first place they turn for medicines, everyday healthcare guidance, and practical advice. A pharmacy can only play this role well when it has access to choices that match local needs, a dependable supply, and a clear understanding of the options it can offer its customers.

This is the context for Buymed’s collaboration with DHG Pharma, one of Vietnam’s leading pharmaceutical companies with an established presence in Cambodia. Building on their existing relationship, Buymed and DHG Pharma are working towards a longer-term approach that brings the portfolio closer to pharmacies in provincial markets and makes it more relevant to the communities those pharmacies serve.

What change do Buymed and DHG Pharma seek to create?

The shared ambition is not simply to make more products available. It is to help pharmacies understand the DHG Pharma portfolio, identify options that fit the needs of their customers, and feel confident in the choices they make each day.

DHG Pharma brings pharmaceutical expertise and an established portfolio. Buymed brings local market knowledge, distribution capability, and digital tools that help connect with pharmacies across Cambodia. Together, the two organisations are creating a stronger foundation for the portfolio to reach more pharmacies, particularly in provincial areas, and become a more practical part of their everyday work.

What can this mean for customers and the market?

When pharmacies have more relevant options and a steadier supply, they are better positioned to respond to the people who rely on them. Customers can access a broader range of choices from a provider they already know. Patients may have a better chance of finding the products they need closer to home.

The collaboration can also create value for the wider market. DHG Pharma can build greater awareness and reach in Cambodia, while local pharmacies gain a stronger connection to a portfolio developed by one of Vietnam’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Over time, this kind of collaboration can show how Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies and locally grounded market partners can work together to make healthcare options more accessible in Cambodia.

Why is following current demand alone not enough?

Familiar products often move faster because pharmacies and customers already understand them. However, a market that only follows what is already familiar may miss the opportunity to respond to a broader range of needs. For the DHG Pharma portfolio to reach its potential, pharmacies need time to understand newer or less familiar options and see how they can be relevant to the people they serve.

Buymed and DHG Pharma are choosing to take that longer view. The work calls for patience, careful listening, and a willingness to learn from the realities of each area. Rather than treating provincial markets as an extension of one uniform market, the collaboration recognises that each community has its own needs, rhythms, and expectations.

What does turning this direction into action require?

A meaningful market approach must be built through consistent action. Buymed and DHG Pharma will stay close to pharmacy feedback, pay attention to the different needs of each area, and keep refining the way the portfolio reaches local providers. The goal is to ensure that new options are not simply present, but genuinely useful to pharmacies and their customers.

This is what Live Bold – Stay True means in practice. Live Bold is the willingness to invest in an opportunity that needs time to develop, rather than following only the demand that is already visible. Stay True is keeping the purpose clear: enabling pharmacies to serve customers better and helping patients access the products they need.

What does this step mean for Cambodia?

The collaboration with DHG Pharma marks a meaningful next step in Buymed’s work in Cambodia. It brings together regional pharmaceutical expertise and local market understanding around a shared goal: making relevant healthcare options more available through the pharmacies that serve provincial communities.

As this work progresses, Buymed and DHG Pharma will continue to focus on practical value for pharmacies and patients. The ambition is straightforward: help local pharmacies serve with greater confidence, and help more people find the healthcare options they need closer to where they live.