Iran Starts Development of Homegrown Medicine for Coronavirus

An Iranian medical official says the development of a drug and vaccine for treatment of the novel coronavirus is underway.

Iranian doctor visiting a coronavirus patient at Forqani hospital in Qom / Photo by Mohsenzadeh

Alireza Jalali, the head of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, said Friday the “scientific committees of Baqiyatallah University have been activated since last week in order to develop a definitive drug for the novel coronavirus.”

“During the past week, three new projects were launched for production of vaccine and definitive drug for coronavirus. We expect the projects to yield serious results,” he noted.

He said the first project is aimed at producing a genetics-based drug for the new coronavirus, Covid-19.

According to Jalali, the Health Ministry and the research department of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are working on the project, which is expected to yield results in three to six months.

The second project, development of a vaccine, will successfully finish in three to five months, and the third project will focus on development of an herbal medicine for Covid-19 patients, he added.

In separate comments on Friday, Health Ministry spokesman said the country’s defence ministry experts have developed coronavirus testing kits, which will be mass produced in coming days.

According to Kianoush Jahanpour, the kits will be mass produced and delivered to laboratories across the country once they receive the final approval.

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