Background: One of the thriving pharmaceutical sectors is the antibiotic market, which is widely used to cure infections. However, the irrational use of antibiotics can cause microbial resistance. Due to the increasing consumption of antibiotics in Iran and the world, this pharmaceutical class's market research provides excellent insight for healthcare providers and is therefore of great importance. The present study is a practical and time-series study using 16 years of antibiotic sales data.
Materials and methods:The digital sales of antibiotics from 2002 to 2017 were obtained from the Iranian Ministry of Health. Then, the sales patterns of each antibiotic category were examined.
 Findings:In 1396, 9.54% of the pharmaceutical market in Iran belonged to antibiotics. The highest sales were for Penicillins (38.87%) and Cephalosporins (25.92%), and the lowest sales for Carbapenems and Glycopeptides (0.33%) categories. In general, Cephalosporin, Carbapenem, Lincosamides, Glycopeptides, Macrolides, and Quinolones had growing sales patterns during the 16 years studied, while Aminoglycosides, Sulfonamides, and anti-tubular medicines had declining sales patterns. 
Conclusion:The use of antibiotics is showing an increasing trend in Iran. Also, there is a concern about increase in the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, such as Cefixime, Cefepime, Azithromycin, and Meropenem. Therefore, there is a need to establish regulatory policies for antibiotic prescription and consumption and proper management in this area.