TEHRAN – Denmark's ambassador to Tehran, Danny Annan, has said the country’s largest pharmaceutical company will begin production in Iran within the next two months.

 “Despite sanctions, we are determined to strengthen ties with Iran,” he added, IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The company will produce injectable insulin in Iran, under the first phase, he said, noting that the product will be distributed inside Iran, and will be later exported to neighboring countries and the region.

Stating that U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran are not supported by the European Union and Denmark as well, he emphasized that despite the sanctions, Denmark is determined to expand its relationship with Iran.
Although food and medicine were claimed to be exempted from the U.S. sanctions, financial and banking sanctions have limited the life-saving medicine trade which harshly targeted the patients suffering from rare diseases.

Moreover, fears of falling afoul of Washington have restricted exports to Iran.

Exemptions for humanitarian trade (such as food, medicine, and medical equipment) have not been effective in protecting Iranian patients from access to imported medicine, such as the bandages used for patients suffering Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare genetic disease that causes painful blistering of the skin.

With the return of sanctions, over a year (May 2018-May 2019), 15 patients covered by EB Health House lost their lives, including Ava, a two-year-old girl in Ahvaz city, who died of infection and lack of skincare.

Companies exclusively producing medicine for Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) patients, such as BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. of the U.S. and a South Korean company, have refused to export these drugs to Iran, threatening the lives of 335 patients in Iran.

FB/MG