MNA – In a ceremony on Sunday and with participation of Head of Food and Drug Administration of Iran (IFIDA), first domestically produced pulmonary surfactant ‘Beraksurf’ was unveiled.

“Production of this drug requires high technological knowledge and has cost $4.5 million to $5 million,” IFIDA Head Mohamamdreza Shanehsaz said.

Despite the challenges created by our country's enemies, Iranian experts have been successful in manufacturing vital drugs domestically, he added.

“Some 99 percent of domestic need for drugs is met in the country and we plan to expand exports of our products and seek to protect domestic knowledge-based companies,” the official said.

Beraksurf is a bovine pulmonary surfactant containing bovine lung extract which used for the treatment of Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) in premature infants. Beractant contains a mixture of phospholipids, neutral lipids, fatty acids, and surfactant-associated proteins such as SP-B and SP-C.

Based on the recent report of the Global Innovation Index (GII) in 2019, major portion of requirements of Iran’s pharmaceutical market are provided by the domestic companies.

Domestic companies hold about 70 percent of $4.5 billion pharmaceutical market of the country.

GII in a report published in 2019 concentrated on studying and analyzing situation of innovation and capability of Iran in the pharmaceutical field with a focus on the biomedicines.

GII put the market value medical equipment in Iran at $2.5 billion, 30 percent of which is owned by more than 100 domestic producers.