TEHRAN – The development of knowledge-based firms active in the health sector and biotechnology is one of the important programs of Health Ministry, the deputy health minister for research and technology, has said.

Basic research and development related to health and biotechnology should be on agenda in order to meet the needs of the health sector, ILNA quoted Younes Panahi as saying on Friday.

Currently, 1,492 products have been produced by knowledge-based companies and the annual turnover of these companies is 40 trillion rials (nearly $952 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials), which can play an effective role in the national and international arenas, he stated.

There are 778 research centers, 15 research institutes, 24 research networks, 93 technology centers, 12 technology parks, and about 1400 knowledge-based companies are active in the fields of health in the country, he further noted.

 Knowledge-based companies in medical sector

Iranian companies producing medical equipment export their products to 54 countries across the world, Es’haq Ameri, deputy health minister for medical equipment and supplies, announced in November.

About 1400 knowledge-based companies are active in health sector in the country. In 2018, the National Medical Device Directorate reported that the Iranian medical equipment market was worth $2.5 billion, 30 percent of which belonged to over 1,000 domestic firms.

On a global scale, 56 percent of 500,000 medical equipment items available in the world market have Iranian versions. In pharmaceuticals, around 70 percent of Iran’s $4.5 billion markets are domestic products and, in 2018, 97 percent of pharmaceuticals consumed in the country were manufactured locally.

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.

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 on October 11.

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.

FB/MG