TEHRAN – The Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade and the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday to promote technology in the food and medicine industry.

Mostafa Ghanei, the secretary of the biotechnology development headquarters of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, and Mohammad Mehdi Baradaran, the deputy industry minister for public resources, inked the MOU, IRNA reported.

The influence of technology in the food and medicine industry, food and drug industry reform document, the reconstruction and modernization of the infrastructure, the promotion of knowledge-based culture, and encouraging public industries to become knowledge-based are among the issues of the MOU.

Sharing information and statistics for planning and policymaking in the food and drug industry and identifying the current and future needs and opportunities of the country in the field of health-oriented and food products are other areas of this joint cooperation.

According to this memorandum, the responsible bodies are committed to creating the necessary conditions for the production of more pharmaceutical goods and a 50 percent reduction in the import of pharmaceuticals by the end of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 2023).

Biotechnology development

Biotechnology today is widespread in all fields and is no longer limited to biomedical drugs so it has replaced the injured limbs.

Nearly 800 knowledge-based companies in the country are currently operating in the field of biotechnology and supplying their products and services to the domestic market.

In May 2021, the Biotechnology Development Council launched 129 production projects with the aim of saving up to $1.44 billion of foreign currency.

Iran is ranked 12th in the world and first in West Asia in terms of biotechnology, as 9.5 percent of the income of knowledge-based companies and more than 60 percent of their exports are related to biotechnology.

Foreign exchange savings of $1 billion per year by producing 22 biopharmaceuticals, gaining the first rank in biotechnology products and vaccines in West Asia, and the presence among the top five biotechnology producers in Asia are among the country’s achievements, Ghanei said in October 2020.

So far, 27 biotechnology medicines, 12 vaccine projects, 90 pharmaceutical raw materials, and 55 projects in agriculture and food security have been implemented in order to gain a 3 percent market share and biotechnology assistance to the development of the economy, he explained.

Some 8 major companies are responsible for managing the country's 117 priority products in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical raw materials, vaccines, probiotics, equipment, and chemical drugs, he emphasized.

Some 270 national projects have been developed to improve the quality of food and agricultural products with the help of biotechnology in the country, in addition to reducing production costs.

FB/MG