Iranian researchers produce polymer vital for making medicines
Iranian researchers at the University of Tehran have produced a polymer widely used in medical and pharmaceutical fields to meet domestic needs amid problems caused by Western sanctions restricting the import of medicines and medical supplies to the country.
The copolymer, called poly lactic-co-glycolic acid or PLGA, is an environment-friendly chemical compound that is widely used in medical, pharmaceutical and research fields, including in producing surgical sutures, said Mohsen Shahrousvand, the chairman of the Polymer Engineering Department at the Caspian Technical Faculty of the Tehran University, IRNA wrote.
He said that PLGA is also used in producing drug delivery systems (DDS) required for certain medicines that are currently imported to Iran. Because those DDSs are not produced domestically, Iranian pharmaceutical companies have to import PLGA at a high price, he added.
PLGA is globally priced at 100 dollars each gram for research activities and 10 to 20 dollars for medicinal purposes, Shahrousvand said, adding that the Iranian knowledge-based company in charge of producing PLGA is currently working on getting required permissions to sell the product in internal and international markets.
He said that Iranian researchers have already managed to produce PLGA in labs.
Now, with the mass production of this polymer, the current monopoly on its production by a handful countries in the world will be broken as well, Shahrousvand noted, adding that PLGA is currently produced by the US, Germany, the Netherlands, China, and India.