Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Public Accounts Committee
2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014
10:00 am
Mr. John McCarthy:
Not in the short term. I am not aware of anything in the short term.
Over the medium term drugs will come off patent but new drugs will be developed over time as well, but I do not think there is any risk, in the very short term that there is an issue in that regard. It had been flagged from 2011, and even in early 2012, that this patent was beginning to expire so that was known in advance for some time. I am not aware of anything at the moment that will arise in the next 18 months, not to the same extent because the previous one was a very large drug.