The Americans would suffer the most if Trump imposed pharmaceuticals, warns sector | Pharmaceutical industry

The Americans would suffer the most if Donald Trump imported the imports of pharmaceuticals because medication would become more expensive and potentially unaffordable for some people, drug manufacturers have warned.

The drug manufacturers were thought of on targeted border taxes – similar to the 25% taxes for steel, aluminum and author imports – after the US President had threatened the discussion of the sector last month and announced an investigation. Last week Trump pointed out a possible recreation for companies and said they would give themselves time to move their operations to the USA, but “after that it will be a tariff wall and they will not be happy about it,” he added.

Giovanni Barbella, the global head of the strategy and supply chain on the multinational Sandoz of the Swiss, said that the tariffs would lead to pension disorders and medium -term price increases, whereby the US patients are most toughest. Sandoz is one of the world's largest manufacturers of generics – cheaper versions of branded medication whose patents have expired. The majority of prescription medication sold worldwide is generic.

“We produce products on a very narrow border,” said Barbella. “This is the nature of our industry. Ultimately, higher production costs, including the costs for tariffs, will lead to higher prices.”

He added: “There can be more pension disorders because some players can leave this [US] Market and focus on markets where you can do more business. Ultimately, the risk is that the US patient suffers the most. “

In the United States, Great Britain and other countries there are already continued shortage of drugs, and the tariffs may make this worse by disturbing the long and complex global supply chains.

Mark Samuels, the managing director of Medicines UK, who represents the generic drug manufacturer based in Great Britain, said: “In an insurance system, such as the USA, the medical costs and insurance increase, then this increases the risk that people can either afford to complete their cancer treatments or to pay them as a whole.”

A 25% US tariff for pharmaceutical imports would increase the drug costs in the country by almost 51 billion USD (38 billion GBP) per year and, according to an analysis of the auditing company, which was commissioned by pharmaceutical research and the manufacturers of America, increased up to 12.9%.

In an attempt to travel down to dismissal, Swiss drug manufacturers Roche and Novartis will invest $ 50 billion or $ 23 billion in the USA in the coming years. Great Britain's Astrazeneca announced an investment of USD 3.5 billion in November and announced last week that it will be moving the production of some medication sold in the USA to the states. The US company Eli Lilly, the manufacturers of diabetes and obesity medication Mounjaro and Zepbound, spends at least $ 27 billion for the construction of four new production facilities in the USA.

In the next four years, Johnson & Johnson will be 55 billion in USD in US production and research. The company based in New Jersey is more susceptible to all US tariffs due to its significant production throughout Europe, including Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium.

Sandoz said that pharmaceutical companies – the higher prices for their products – could shift production to the USA, but was much more difficult for generic drug manufacturers to do this. The medication you manufacture are cheap – a small paracetemol package costs of 37 pence in British supermarkets – and the companies work with stricter profit margins.

About a quarter of generics that are prescribed by the NHS are produced in Great Britain, a third from India and the rest from the EU, according to Medicines UK, while China and India are the two main sources for medical ingredients.

Sandoz produces the main substance for antibiotics such as amoxicillin at its own locations in Austria, Spain and Slovenia and the finished product in Austria. For other drugs, it draws the active ingredients of suppliers in India or China and produces the finished product in Poland, Germany and Turkey.

The packaging is produced in Poland and Slovenia. The company also has a website approved by the USA in India that produces finished products and packaging, as well as a location in Brazil that produces for the local market.

For biological medication that comes from living organisms, Sandoz receives the main substance of his former parent company Novartis in Europe, but builds its own production facilities in Slovenia.

Gareth Sheridan, the managing director of the Irish -founded pharmaceutical company Nutriband from Nasdaq, has warned that life could be lost if tariffs are imposed on medication.

“These types of treatments cannot afford a disorder in the global supply chain,” he said recently the BBC. “As a comparable situation, you cannot afford a BMW? Buy a Ford and you can still go to work. If you have a 25% hike to chemotherapy and you can no longer afford your treatment, what is the alternative? I mean, in the end people will die.”