Iran has established its position as one of the world’s top three producers of radiopharmaceuticals, with statistics showing a nationwide increase in nuclear medicine imaging systems across all 31 provinces, according to Mehr News Agency. Iran has made notable progress in this field by developing radiopharmaceutical production capabilities and establishing specialised medical centres.
Currently, Iran produces 70 types of radiopharmaceuticals, meeting the needs of more than 6,500 nuclear medicine centres nationwide. It also exports these products to 15 countries, generating around $70m in revenue in 2025.
As part of efforts to achieve self-sufficiency, a cyclotron has been installed and commissioned at a hospital in Tehran to produce radioisotopes used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. The facility’s radiopharmaceutical unit produced the first dose of FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) last year, marking a milestone in local PET imaging capabilities. The only organisation responsible for the production and distribution of radiopharmaceuticals in Iran is a state-owned company under the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.
Iran has unveiled the first domestically-developed production line for an Electrochemotherapy (ECT) ablative device, a cutting-edge cancer treatment, joining few countries worldwide capable of producing this therapeutic method. According to recent data, Iran currently operates around 216 SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) scanners, distributed across all 31 provinces. While this remains below the global average of 3.5 scanners per million people, it reflects substantial progress in expanding access to nuclear medical imaging services throughout the country.
