A production line for branded generic drugs licensed by European and American companies opened on Thursday in Kaveh industrial town, Saveh, Markazi Province.
The Saveh plant at Behestan Pharmaceutical Company, 100 km southwest of Tehran, has been built with an investment of $8 million, Khabaronline quoted Dr. Rasoul Dinarvand, head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as saying.
It will initially produce 12 brands of drugs which will be on pharmacy shelves in the next two months. Some of the drugs include citalopram, cetirizine, sertraline, metformin, tamsulosin, diclofenac and meloxicam which are used for treatment of depression, allergy symptoms, anxiety, type 2 diabetes, enlarged prostate problem, pain and swelling caused by arthritis and inflammation respectively.
Five more products for special medical conditions will be added to the list in the next five years, said Mahdi Baluchesti, head of the pharmaceutical Company.
Technology Transfer
“A series of programs will also be held for Iranian specialists in the Netherlands and Germany for transfer of technology,” he added.
The production includes imports of semi-manufactured drugs which will be formulated, processed and packaged in Iran. The products will be available under insurance coverage at a 10% discount.
“We have over 10,000 active pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies in the country,” Dinarvand said adding, “Their share in the national economy is more than 20%.” He hoped all the firms would employ modern tools of quality control to gain customers’ trust.
“We cannot only blame people for preferring foreign over domestic goods. Instead manufacturers should make efforts to change people’s attitudes towards domestic production through better product quality,” he added.
