TEHRAN – Iranian-made pharmaceuticals are currently exported to Canada, Japan, and Europe, Faramarz Ekhteraei, chairman of the Iranian Pharmaceutical Industries Syndicate, has said.

Emphasizing that 72 percent of the country's pharmaceutical raw materials are domestically produced, he added that Iran has many capabilities in the pharmaceutical industry and investors should pay attention to it.

Pharmaceuticals should be taken into consideration due to their strategic importance in the treatment and health sector because there are capacities in the world for the production of effective medicinal substances that we can produce with the help of knowledge-based companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers with quality and low prices, he highlighted.

Iran is the third leading country in Asia capable of producing biopharmaceuticals. According to him, the technical speed of the pharmaceutical industry is high and it should be considered for investment. We have achieved acceptable growth in the fields of packaging, active ingredients, and the pharmaceutical chain, and the government should also provide more support in this field.

Iran’s API and Pharmaceutical Packaging Syndicate and Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA) will organize the 4th Pharmex International Exhibition (Middle East) from August 23 to 26, at Iran Mall International Expo Center.

On the sidelines of the event, a "special meeting for the development of commercial cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry" will also be held for the first time in the country.

Rise in pharmaceuticals, medical production

The import of pharmaceuticals has declined in Iran by 91 percent, which shows the capability of the country’s pharmaceutical industry, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said last October.

Today, all medicine used in the treatment of coronavirus are produced by domestic manufacturers, and if we wanted to import all the items, there would be a high exchange rate, he further stated, emphasizing that COVID-19 vaccine development indicates the pharmaceutical industry’s capability.

In 2018, 67 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to produce drugs in Iran were made locally.

A total of 227 knowledge-based firms are supplying medical equipment for health centers across the country, according to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

Knowledge-based companies can produce any medicine effective in countering coronavirus or approved by the scientific committee within a week to 10 days, Sourena Sattari, vice president for science and technology, said.

Also, Iran is capable of producing 28 types of biopharmaceuticals, placing the country third in Asia.

Based on innovative indicators of health technology development in 2021, Iran was ranked 60th among 132 countries, which shows an improvement of 60 steps compared to 2014, the deputy health minister for research and technology, has announced.

Despite the sanctions that have existed since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has the strongest health system in the region.

FB/MG