Iran saved €700 mln through localizing medicine production: Minister

Iran’s Health Minister Saeid Namaki says a national effort to localize production of major medicines has enabled the government to save some €700 million in the year ending March 2020.

According to Press TV, Namaki said on Sunday that the government has significantly increased its support for the pharmaceutical sector in Iran, helping many companies to start manufacturing of treatments whose imports have been blocked because of the illegal US sanctions or restrictions imposed on financial settlements.

Namaki said that cutting €700 million in imports of medicines into Iran over the past calendar year enabled the pharmaceutical sector in the country to significantly reduce its need to draw from government’s hard currency reserves.

“This was a major achievement for the country’s pharmaceutical industry that we witnessed a 20-percent reduction in exchange needs for medicine (imports),” said the minister.

Namaki made the remarks while in a video conference session to open a major plant for production of active ingredients needed in the pharmaceutical sector.

Local media reports said the plant set up in the Markazi province in central Iran is a first in West Asia which would greatly enhance Iran’s capacity for localizing drug manufacturing.

Namaki said Iran’s medical sector kept growing over the past calendar year despite US sanctions that have specifically targeted the country’s access to key drugs and medical equipment.

He said that Iran’s growing reliance on a home-grow medical sector proved to be a successful strategy during the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The minister added that Iran had managed to further expand its healthcare provision system by setting up around 7,000 more hospital beds, including 1,000 intensive care unit beds, over the past calendar year.

SS