Status of the pharmaceutical production industry in Iran and the world

The worldwide pharmaceutical industry market is more than 1.3 trillion dollars per year. With a fingertip calculation, Iran's share based on population percentage, without considering the diversity of plant species, which is twice the size of the European continent, second-largest gas reserves, and third-largest oil reserves, various and extensive petrochemical units in the country, significant mineral resources, 2% share in expanding the frontiers of knowledge and scientific documents and numerous pharmaceutical companies, the global pharmaceutical trade should be more than $ 13 billion per year. However, in the current situation, more than $ 2.5 billion is spent on imports of raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and Iran's exports are less than $ 100 million per year. According to an official report, about 1,500 molecules or chemical compounds are consumed as raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients in Iran, and about 13% (about 200 chemical compounds) of them are produced domestically. This amount of production is equivalent to about 25% by volume and 23% of the entire pharmaceutical industry in Iran. However, the current structural and missionary status of the country's higher education, no allocation research and development share of the cost from the trade of the pharmaceutical industry, the improper strategy of the pharmaceutical system and enjoy large profits, divergence in production processes to convergent and cyclic processes, lack of attention to national interests and the real potentials of the country in production, the incorrect cycle of academic research, are the main factors of the current challenges of the pharmaceutical industry in the country. The present work tries to describe the current state and development prospects of the pharmaceutical industry in Iran and the world and provide a way out of the current situation and achieve the desired status.