Facing acute shortage of medicines due to UN sanctions, the Iranian health Ministry has expressed its keen interest to import certain essential medicines from India to meet the healthcare needs of its people.

This latest move by Iran is seen in the context of recent Indian delegation to Tehran. The delegation has been successful in gaining vital export business leads as the Indian embassy in Tehran had sent request letter to the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) to intimate the pharma industry members to supply essential medicines to the already deprived healthcare sector of the country.

According to sources, it is understood the Iranian Health Ministry had expressed its interest to import some 28 different varieties of medicinal drugs ranging from tables, capsules, solutions and injectables of variable quantities from the Indian suppliers. Some of the major requirements among the ministry’s list include Mesalazine 500 mg, Nicotinic Acid 25mg & 100 mg, Thiabendazole 500mg, Thioguanine 40 mg and Valganciclovir 450 mg among tablets.  Amiodarone Hydrochloride 50mg/ml, Amphotericin B Liposome 50 mg, Gadopentetate dimeglumine 469mg/ml, Iopromide 300 mg/ml and Cefotaxime 500 mg @ 1000 mg, etc. the among injectables and solutions.
The officials at Pharmexcil revealed that, the export opportunity is a result of successful tour of recent Indian delegation to Tehran. In the event of recent UN sanctions against Iran, India had sent a 26 member delegation this December to explore the pharmaceutical export opportunities to Tehran.  The successful visit of the delegation has resulted in gaining fruitful export opportunity for the Indian Pharma Industry.
It is also learnt that for members who wish to export pharma products to Iran, the Iranian drug authorities have offered to exempt exporters from product registration hazels. But for companies having only CoPP certifications, the officials of Iran’s health Ministry would visit the sites before importing the pharma products. The Certificate of a Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) is needed by the importing country when the product in question is intended for registration or renewal of registration.
For companies which are already holding product registration certificates with authorities like US FDA/ EDQM/ MHRA, apart from CoPPs, then the medicines will be imported without any site inspection.  Interested parties who wish to export pharma products to Iran can contact Bharat Babu, counsellor at Indian Embassy in Iran or can contact Syndicate of Iranian Pharmaceutical Importers at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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TEHRAN, Dec. 28 (MNA) – Iran conducted $71.2 billion in trade of non-oil goods with other countries during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, according to Iranian Customs Administration Director Abbas Memarnejad.

Some $31 billion worth of non-oil goods were exported, and nearly $40.2 billion worth of non-oil goods were imported during the nine-month period, the Fars News Agency quoted Memarnejad as saying on Friday.  Iron and steel ingots, wheat, and corn fodder were the main goods imported, and liquefied propane, urea, and cement were the main items exported.  Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and India were the top importers of Iranian goods during the period, while the United Arab Emirates, China, Turkey, South Korea, and Switzerland were the leading exporters of goods to Iran, Memarnejad said.

Massomeh Ebtekar, the head of the Tehran Environmental Committee, announced that patients are being diagnosed with cancer at a younger age.

A Cancer Cell

Ebtekar told ILNA: "Air and soil pollution and the effects of [electromagnetic waves] are all contributing to a rise in diseases."

Ebtekar went on to add that experts that have been warning that such environmental factors would lead to a rise in various forms of cancer are currently under pressure and threat for making such statements. She went on to add: "Reporting on such matters is not to cause a panic among the public but it is aimed at changing policies that a handful are exploiting for their own benefit."  Ebtekar stressed that without adherence to environmental standards and regulations, the situation is bound to deteriorate.  Experts have warned that cancer is on the rise in Iran, and by 2015 Iran will face a "cancer tsunami."

TEHRAN, Dec. 27 (MNA) – The Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade has said that temporary national currency devaluation has worked to boost exports.  Mehdi Ghazanfari told reporters that the 2.5 times devaluation of RialagainstUSDollar has coincided with a boom in many of productive industries. “In the first 8 months this year, 30 million tons of good have been imported through northern and southern ports of the country,” he added.