A knowledge-based company has succeeded to save up to $20 million annually by domestic production of a drug needed for organ transplantation, according to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

The domestic medicine, called Iminoral, is meeting 95 percent of the country’s need and is prescribed to patients who have had a transplant, and it is responsible for suppressing the body’s immune system so that the patient’s body does not reject the transplanted organ.

The annual production and sales value of this product in three doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg is over 600 billion rials (about $14 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) per year.

Iminoral is 40 percent cheaper than similar foreign samples, however, in several tests, its high quality has been approved.

With the support of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, the necessary facilities for the development of production lines for this company have been approved.

Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, head of the Food and Drug Administration said in January that the Iranian pharmaceutical industry and scientists are capable of producing any kind of medicine over a two-year period.

Iran also produced drugs confirmed to be effective in the coronavirus treatment, including, Remdesivir, Tocilizumab.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki said that some 97 percent of the whole medicine consumed in the country is produced domestically and only 3 percent is imported.

Sourena Sattari Vice President for Science and Technology also said that “Iran plays a leading role in the field of biotechnology in the region, with the production of 24 biotech medicine. /T.T/