US patients will pay cost of Donald Trump's 15 per cent tariffs on EU's pharma industry, Irish boss warns
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CEO of Nutriband Gareth Sheridan fears the impact of the tariffs
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Tanaiste
Gareth Sheridan is CEO of Nutriband – a pharma company that specialises in patch technologies to enable safer use of pain medications and reduces the risk of addiction.
The company is in a unique position in that they are based in the US and so will not face the 15 per cent tariffs.
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However,
He told the Irish Sun: 'We won't be hugely impacted by the tariffs directly but we will be because we will be caught up in the industry impact.
'As a company that likes to describe ourselves as patient focused, we're very concerned at the effect that this will have on patients at the end of the day.
'Primarily that is where the fallout is going to be. To give you an example, 60 per cent of patients battling cancer in America today struggle with the cost of care as it is – and that's without a 15 per cent hike.
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'If you can imagine a 15 per cent hike in the cost of any sort of chemotherapies that is now being imported at a US level – that is very problematic.
'That's about two million people that are today barely making ends meet because of the cost of chemotherapy and you're going to have a 15 per cent price hike most likely unless the pharmaceutical companies absorb that cost.'
US and EU agree landmark trade deal after months of talks, Donald Trump says
The Irish pharma company boss believes that patients are being left behind in the discussion on tariffs as the majority of the discussion has been about the impact on jobs and the economy.
He said: 'When it comes to negotiations and these discussions, ultimately people aren't statistics and patients need to be kept top of the narrative.
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'When we were talking bigger numbers and job losses and how its going to effect the economy and all those things – that's terrible.
'But ultimately when people are going to die - and they will die because they can't afford to live - I think that is a very dangerous precedent to set globally.'
RESPONSE TEAM SET UP
It comes as Business Minister Peter Burke established a Tariff Response Team to support Irish exporters who will be hit by the new 15 per cent tariffs.
The trade team will give advice to businesses and manage new grants and funds that are being made available to assist Irish companies.
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These include new market discover funds of up to €150,000 to help companies expand to new countries and €35,000 research grants to help firms mitigate the impact of the trade shake up.
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The US clarified that pharma exports from the EU will be included in the tariffs
Credit: Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS
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