Making the Public Health and Industrial Objectives Balanced; the Big Challenge of Iran’s Food and Drug Organization

Pharmaceutical industry is considered as a high profitable industry which could play a considerable role in local economies (1). In middle-income countries, development of this industry could also be a priority for governments because of supplying locally needed medicines at lower cost compared with importation. In spite of existing about 90 manufacturing companies participating in pharmaceutical production and many research-based pharmaceutical firms working on production of high-technology medicines, pharmaceutical industry and its market in Iran are relatively small compared with other sector. The recent financial sanction and limitation on international trade revealed the weaknesses of our domestic industry in meeting medical needs of society in political and international crisis (2). Empowering pharmaceutical industry therefore seems to be a necessity for economic, health and independency-following objectives and should be paid enough attention by government and Food and Drug Organization (FDO). On the other hand FDO and also ministry of health (MOH) are responsible for preparing conditions for achieving public health objectives. Reaching population health objectives could be managed by focusing on the functions of pharmaceutical system which are reflected in WHO framework for national drug policy (NDP): accessibility, quality, and rational use of medicines (3). In this situation, the Iran’s Food and Drug Organization (FDO) should be concerned about the both consumption (patients) and production (producers) sides by making proper policies and regulations. Some of these efforts in FDO seem to be in collision with each other and need to become balanced by an accurate approach (4). In this commentary we are going to discuss about these challenges in Iranian pharmaceutical system.