Türkiye mobilized over $1.5 bln in health investments over past year: Minister

ANKARA  

Türkiye has issued investment incentive certificates for 161 projects in the health industry over the past year, mobilizing more than 70 billion Turkish Liras ($1.5 billion) in investment and paving the way for more than 5,000 qualified jobs, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır has said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Ankara Innovative Diagnosis and Treatment Products Development Center (AnkaTheraHub) on June 30, Kacır said the government has also been supporting 36 investment projects worth more than 23 billion liras under the Technology-Oriented Industry Move Program, spanning biosimilar medicines, cancer and autoimmune drugs, orthopedic devices, prosthetics and innovative generic medicines.

AnkaTheraHub was established with a total investment of 13 million euros.
The minister added that the HIT-30 Program aims to attract large-scale and high-quality investments to Türkiye’s health ecosystem in areas ranging from biotechnological medicines and innovative health technologies to smart medical devices and technological foods.

He also noted that the TÜBİTAK Vaccine and Drug Development Campus has been put into service and that more than 900 technology startups operating within 75 R&D centers and technoparks have received support for their research projects.

The minister said the share of domestically manufactured medicines in Türkiye’s pharmaceutical market increased from 79 percent by volume and 44 percent by value in 2016 to over 91 percent by volume and more than 56 percent by value last year. In medical devices, he said the export-to-import coverage ratio rose from 19 percent in 2016 to 40 percent today.