Domestic cancer drugs to be produced and patented

The following is the translation of the news published on Turkish daily "Sabah" on March 05, 2018. Please click here to find the original publication.

Turkey has given a start for the domestic production of cancer drugs. The world-wide famous pharmaceutical companies have been invited for the cancer drugs that will be produced locally from molecules to patent.

The government, after defence industry and renewable energy, will give Turkey's biggest incentive for domestic production of the drugs to the pharmaceutical industry.

Health  Economic Coordination Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek has decided to invite the world's pharmaceutical giants for domestic production and partnership.

Turkey imports cancer drugs, including the side treatments, of 2.5 billion Turkish liras each year. Domestically producing the cancer drugs, for which there is currently 100% dependency on the foreigners, Turkey would make a leap on the world drugs market and the dependency on such strategic product would end. 

The Government will call the world's pharmaceutical giants to Turkey for their producing domestic cancer drugs. The world's big pharmaceutical companies like Novartis and Roche will be invited to found factories in Turkey for producing cancer drugs in Turkey. The Government will give the purchase guarantee to the firm which gives the best offer. The R&D of the pharmaceutical industry will be developed. Turkish engineers will take place in the R&D works. "Know-how" environment will be created to allow domestic firms to produce cancer drugs. If pharmaceutical is patented in Turkey, it will be deemed to be as Turkey's export, without regarding where it was sold around the world. Thus, Turkey would become among the countries exporting high-tech products in the pharmaceutical industry.

The Health Economy Coordination Board has already put the blood plasmas, which were among imported products, into the domestic production, for a 7-year purchase guarantee. Thanks to the domestic plasmas production made with the domestic partner, it is expected that it would be shortly among the export items, coming out of import items. After the vaccines, cancer drugs, the patent of which will belong to Turkey, may be domestically produced. Turkey is allocating a budget of 25 billion dollars for the drug each year and more than half of it is imported from abroad. Turkey aims to become the most powerful production centre in the Middle East with its domestic pharmaceutical industry.