Iranian Knowledge-Based Company Produces Insulin Pen
“The pens that patients use on a daily basis include two parts; a glass cartridge containing medicine, and a polymer pen containing a glass cartridge. Fortunately, today, part of the insulin cartridges needed by patients are produced inside the country, however, the supply of polymer pens has been almost completely dependent on imports in recent years,” said Alireza Sadeqi, an associate professor of mechanical engineering faculty of University of Tehran and the managing director of the knowledge-based company.
Noting that many medications, including insulin and various hormones, are given by means of an injection pen, he said, “Despite the production of insulin medicine in Iran, due to the complexity of the production technology of these pens, in the past years, all parts of injection pens have been imported from abroad.”
The knowledge-based Pouyesh Tazriq company has succeeded in producing these injection pens completely domestically and presented them to the market, Sadeqi said.
Earlier this year, another knowledge-based company in Iran had also obtained the know-how of producing insulin from cells and launched the production line of the medicine.
“One of the big issues in the country is that given the country’s circumstances and the problems that the superpowers have created for other countries, access to the medicines needed by people with diabetes is very risky. If insulin is not provided to diabetic patients for at least two days, unfortunate events will happen to the country,” said Mostafa Qaneyee, the secretary of the Knowledge-Based Health Economy Development Headquarters which is a department of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy.
Emphasizing the necessity of maintaining security in the supply of medicines for diabetic patients, he pointed out, “Insulin has been a medicine that has been imported into the country, but what happened recently is that one of the technological companies in the country succeeded in producing insulin from the cellular stage, i.e. the first stage of technology to produce new combination of insulin.”
Qaneyee said that the production of that important product in the field of health was achieved with the support and cooperation of the Vice Presidency, the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, the National Development Fund and the participating banks, adding, "This synergy (cooperation) made it possible to produce insulin from the cells at one of the most advanced and well-equipped pharmaceutical companies in the country with technological cooperation from other countries and domestic researchers."
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