Assessment of the vaccine industry in Iran in context of accession to WTO: a survey study

BACKGROUND: The vaccine industry is one of the most important health-related industries. It can be affected by accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) because of probable dramatic changes in the business environment. Iran has already initiated accession negotiations. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: In this paper, we investigate the position of, challenges to, and opportunities for vaccine manufacturing in Iran with regard to accession to the WTO. METHODS: This is a qualitative and cross sectional study. To collect information, we designed a questionnaire and interviewed some of the vaccine industry’s key opinion leaders in Iran. Before the interviews were conducted, the questionnaires were sent to these individuals by email. RESULTS: According to the interviewees, the country’s main challenges with regard to accession to the WTO are the lack of firm internal intellectual property (IP) rules, not being recognized as pre-qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of old equipment, and a lack of cooperation with global vaccine companies. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Iran’s local vaccine industry, with a long history and international reputation that could be used as an advantage, is faced with several challenges, such as problems with keeping up with Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), a lack of adequate and meaningful investment in research and development (R&D), and limitations on private sector participation in the production of vaccines. Gradual privatization of the industry, improved international relations, utilization of the R&D power of small hi-tech companies, consistent education of human resources, and modernization of infrastructures and equipment are among the suggested solutions.