Iran launches manufacturing of two new drugs
Iran has started manufacturing of two types of drugs, IRIB News
reported.
CEO of Iranian Pooyesh Darou company, Mijtaba Tabatabai, spoke
briefly about the new drugs on the sidelines of the unveiling
ceremony.
Pooyesh Darou is one of the most well established biotechnology
companies in Iran and Middle East.
According to Tabatabai, the two drugs are Reteplase and
Pegfilgrastim.
Reteplase is a thrombolytic drug, used to treat heart attacks by
breaking up the clots that cause them.
Pegfilgrastim is a PEGylated form of the recombinant human
granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) analog filgrastim,
which serves to stimulate the level of white blood cells.
Pegfilgrastim treatment can be used to stimulate the bone marrow to
produce more neutrophils to fight infection in patients undergoing
chemotherapy.
Tabatabai noted that Iran is second only country in the world that
is able to manufacture Reteplase domestically, adding that until
the end of 2013, Iran plans to start the mass production of the
drug.
As for Pegfilgrastim, according to Tabatabai, this was being
manufactured only by a Swiss company, however now Iran is also able
to manufacture it domestically. He added that its price on the
world market is about $1000, which is approximately 1.226 million
rials, by official USD rate in Iran.
Tabatabai said that both drugs were positively tested on
patients.