Iran will construct a plasma production plant under a memorandum of understanding signed with a German company active in blood typing serology research.
The MoU signing ceremony was held recently in Tehran in the presence of representatives from the Iranian Darman Ara Company (DAC) and German Biotest AG. The details of the MoU were not known.
Founded in 1946 and based in the town of Dreieich, the German firm specializes in innovative hematology and immunology products with the holistic approach of a global pharmaceutical, diagnostics and biotherapeutics group. It reaches out to patients, hospitals, medical practices, laboratories and companies in 159 countries around the globe.
“As per regulations set by the World Health Organization, countries can enter the plasma industry by building plasma plants once they hit a production capacity of more than 300,000 liters of plasma per year,” Ali Akbar Pourfathollah, head of the IBTO, was quoted as saying by ISNA at the ceremony.
“Currently, annual capacity of plasma production at the Iran Blood Transfusion Organization stands at 400,000 liters.”
Roughly 200,000 liters are collected from blood units at the state-run IBTO, and another 200,000 liters at private organizations. Cooperation between state and private sectors in blood transfusion began in 2002 after several private companies expressed their readiness to collaborate.
In the most recent strategic plan for EMRO (WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office) states, Iran proposed a program which was accepted and included in the plan. It called on all 22 EMRO member states to take steps towards the industry of plasma production, following which 8 countries committed to taking action regarding production of plasma-derived medications by 2020.
“Iran has the possibility of becoming a plasma production hub in the region, as no other regional country has the knowhow to produce plasma-derived medication or blood transfusion technologies, nor has any other nation reached the point of meeting its entire (100%) blood demand through voluntary donations,” Pourfathollah stressed.
Iran’s blood donation rate is 27 per 1,000 people.
The IBTO official said that two European nations will cooperate with Iran in production of blood bags, without specifying details. However, he did mention that the collaboration will result in production of 12 million blood bags in total.
The national need for blood bags is 2.5-3 million, and the excess could be exported.
“Iran has both the demand for as well as the geographic location in the strategic Middle East region that is required for a plasma plant,” said Dr. Akbar Abdollahi-Asl, director general of medicine at the Food and Drug Administration.
DAC is a private joint stock pharmaceutical company established in 2000 and is focused on plasma-derived and biological medicine. At present it is the official distributor of some international companies including Biotest AG, Nestlé Health Science, B. Braun, Biofactor, NNE Pharmaplan, most of which are active in the field of plasma-derived medicines, metabolic, endocrine and gastrointestinal diseases, clinical nutrition and biotechnology industry.
