30% Rise in Value of Domestic Medicines

EghtesadOnline: The value of domestically-made pharmaceuticals has increased 30% in the current Iranian year (started March 2019) and about €600 million less were spent on the import of medicines, says Health Minister Saeed Namaki.

News ID: ۷۴۹۷۴۶

19 February 2020

Noting that the country’s capacity to produce medicine has increased by 20%, the minister added, “The state of our pharmaceutical stocks is not worrying; all factories have enough raw materials for the next three to six months.”

“Thanks to the shift from lending support to importing drugs and medical equipment to importing raw materials, the import of final medicinal products has reduced from $3.7 billion in the last Iranian year to $3 billion this year,” says Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, the head of Food and Drug Administration of Iran, IRNA reported.

“As we speak, 60% of the government’s allocation of subsidized currency to pharmaceutical imports are spent on the import of raw materials instead of final pharmaceutical products,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.