TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Health Minister Seyed Hassan Qazi-zadeh Hashemi announced that Iran plans to produce seven new vaccines and also reduce its reliance on importing drugs by 25 percent in a four-year period.


�According to the plan, 25 percent of (Iran's) drug dependence will be removed in four years � and seven needed vaccines will be produced in the country during the same period,� Hashemi said on the sidelines of a ceremony in Tehran on Saturday.

He underlined that 95 percent of Iran's needs to medicines are manufactured domestically, but meantime said that the country has a 52-percent reliance on raw materials for drug production.

�Under the new administration, we have set up the technology council for the purpose of producing vaccines and medicines �,� the Iranian health minister said.

Earlier this year, Iranian Deputy Health Minister for Research and Technology Mostafa Qaneyee announced that would mass-produce flu vaccine in the near future, adding that production of rabies human vaccine will also start in low volume this year.

�Fortunately, the production line of flu vaccine has been completed in the country and it will launch operation in the month of Khordad (May 22 to June 21),� Qaneyee, who is also the head of Iran's Pasteur Institute, told FNA in May.

He also announced the country's plans to increase production of vaccine for animal rabies, and said production of rabies human vaccine is also on the working agenda of Pasteur Institute.

The vaccine will be produced in low volume this year and will be presented to the market for a clinical test period and after one year it will be mass-produced to meet the country's needs.

In recent years, Iran has taken wide strides in science and technology, particularly in medical and medicinal fields.

In 2011, Qaneyee had announced that the institute plans to produce human vaccines for rabies and hemophilia diseases.

�The center (Pasteur Institute), in cooperation with its affiliated knowledge-based companies, has started a project to produce rabies and hemophilia human vaccines,� Qaneyee told FNA at the time.

He expressed the hope that his institute would start mass-production of the vaccines within the next 2-3 years, adding that the products will be sold not only in domestic, but also in foreign markets.

By Fars News Agency�

 

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