TEHRAN — Iran will join the five countries producing insulin once the Pars Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company comes on stream in the next four years, said the vice president and general manager of Novo Nordisk, a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company and the world’s top insulin supplier.

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Cem Ozenc made the remarks in an international conference on foreign investment here on Sunday.

After the construction of the Pars Novo Nordisk in Iran, the country can supply its product both to the domestic market and to Western Asia, Mehr news agency quoted Ozenc as saying.

Pars Novo Nordisk is a pharmaceutical company that is mainly aiming at producing insulin and will be built in Iran by the 70 million-euro investment of Novo Nordisk.

He stated that by time the company gets off the ground 100 million euros will be saved annually instead of being spent on importing medications to the country.

He further explained that the Danish company has maintained a staff of around 130 in Iran through the sanctions era and it now plans to more than double that, by adding 160 additional staff.

He highlighted that Pars Novo Nordisk has opened its office in Iran since 2006 and is the only international pharmaceutical company that has been working in Iran even through the sanctions era for almost 10 year.

MQ/MG