Tehran – Iran has made great strides in the field of stem cell and cell therapy, reaching eighth place in the world from the 12th of the previous year.
“Last year, we only had one cell therapy product on the market, ranked 12th in the world, but this year we reached the 8th in the world with five products,” said Mostafa Qanei, a vice president of science and technology.
He made a statement at a press conference held in Tehran on Sunday focusing on the performance of the health sector.
“Our goal is to become the top five countries in the world in this field and eliminate the need for patients to travel abroad for treatment,” he added.
Health Sector Technology Project
On his part, Saeed Sarkar, a vice president of science and technology official, added that in the current year of Iran, which will end in March 2026, 20 technology projects related to the health sector belong to the agenda.
These projects include the production of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) drugs, the development of early detection kits for digestive cancer, and other health-oriented products.
Authorities said: “We are pursuing two main goals. The first goal is to improve the effectiveness of medicinal plants through technologies such as nanotechnology.
The second goal is to conduct clinical trials to document the effectiveness of traditional medicine and present the results to the Ministry of Health for verification.
Regarding the use of artificial intelligence in health systems, Sarkar said, “We are deploying artificial intelligence tools in sectors such as radiology and pathology. These devices play a complementary role in medical diagnosis, improving accuracy, reducing costs, and improving public access to healthcare.”
Officials continued to highlight the unprecedented potential of AI technology in the health sector, saying that using artificial intelligence in health systems can dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of clinical decision making, while simultaneously reducing costs and risk.
In February, the IRNA cited Food and Drug Director Mehdi Pirsalehi, saying Iran had successfully produced an FDA-approved cell therapy product.
“Some gene therapy products are also in the clinical trial phase,” he added.
Referring to the country’s scientific advances in the pharmaceutical sector and in the capabilities of Iranian scientists, the formula highlighted the importance of developing modern technology and utilizing artificial intelligence in the pharmaceutical industry.
Approximately 99% of the medicine supplied to the domestic market is produced by Iranian knowledge-based companies. They have also successfully manufactured biotechnology products using Indigenous technology to meet the needs of the country,” added Pirsalehi.
Integrate AI into healthcare
In April, Qanei said one of the vice presidents’ main priorities in the science and knowledge-based economy in the health sector is to integrate AI into healthcare to reduce treatment costs by 40%.
The current healthcare costs in the country are extremely high. One of the main solutions to reduce healthcare costs (particularly chronic diseases) and increase productivity is to use the right AI-based technology, IRNA quotes Kanei as saying.
Integrating AI into healthcare systems requires a good roadmap and a comprehensive approach. Officials went on to say that experts working in the field will be supported in a variety of ways to increase innovation.
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