Mostafa Ghanei, Chairman of the Biotechnology Development Council, said the country enjoys desirable conditions regarding the production of biopharmaceuticals, adding that the Iranian produced biotech drugs are currently being exported to 17 countries in the world.

“No one could imagine that a country which used to be a major importer of biopharmaceuticals is now an exporter of them,” he said.

Ghanei estimated that about $1 billion would be saved each year due to the country’s self-sufficiency in producing its required biopharmaceuticals, adding “currently, biopharmaceuticals top the list of Iran’s imported medicine, and the Biotechnology Development Council has plans to replace this imported volume with domestic production in three years.”

On Feb. 4, Ghanei had said that the country had obtained the technical know-how for production of 10 new biopharmaceuticals, which would be produced and enter the market in two or three years.