Irish drug exports at risk as patents expire

SOME €19 billion of Irish pharmaceutical exports may be impacted by the expiration of patents on a number of blockbuster medicines produced here.

Dr Chris van Egeraat, a lecturer in economic geography at NUI, Maynooth, said that based on global corporate information from Datamonitor, this patent cliff could effect as much as €18.6bn of Ireland’s pharmaceutical exports.

However, Dr van Egeraat pointed out that this will be offset by a number of other factors.