Iran court rules US must pay nearly $7bn in damages to EB patients over sanctions

An Iranian court has ruled that the United States must pay some seven billion dollars in damages over its illegal sanctions affecting the country’s patients suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare hereditary disease that causes the skin to become fragile and easily injured.

The Tehran Legal Court of International Relations issued the verdict on Thursday and said the US government and officials have been sentenced to pay 6,785,000,000 dollars as part of material, moral and punitive damages to the plaintiffs in the case of Iran's EB patients.

The ruling was made after 295 Iranian EB patients and family members of patients lodged lawsuits in protest at the US-imposed sanctions that had hampered the import of much-needed pharmaceuticals and wound dressings for those suffering from the rare skin disease.

In the ruling, the court addressed cases such as the illegal and illegitimate nature of unilateral US sanctions against Iran, the illegitimate blocking of humanitarian items, including medicine, the illegitimate sanctions against children and other vulnerable groups, the adverse effects of sanctions on on the life, health and well-being of EB patients and their families.

The Tehran Legal Court of International Relations said that after the withdrawal of the US administration from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), some companies affiliated to the US and Europe cut off business trade with the Islamic Republic, among them the Swedish company Mölnlycke.

The world-leading MedTech company is a major producer of medical bandages and healing dressings for EB patients across the world. It stopped transactions with Iran as soon as new sanctions were imposed by the then-US President Donald Trump.

The court said that over a span of about eight months after the reinstatement of sanctions, the Iranian EB patients ran out of medicine and ointment to heal their deep skin wounds, as a result of which about 20 lost their lives and many others who survived endured irreparable physical injuries.

Iranian firm produces wound dressings for rare skin disease amid inhumane sanctions

A knowledge-based Iranian medical company has managed to produce wound dressings for patients suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).

In February, a knowledge-based Iranian medical company managed to produce wound dressings for patients suffering from the rare hereditary disease despite long-time US bans.

The achievement was made by specialists at the knowledge-based Teba Zist Polymer Company, which is the first producer of advanced wound dressings in Iran. The company said it had managed to acquire the formulation of Sweden’s Mepilex absorbent foam dressing in compliance with global guidelines recommended for EB patients and their wounds.

The United States under Trump reinstated harsh sanctions on Iran after unilaterally walking out of the JCPOA in May 2018, despite Iran’s full compliance with the terms of the agreement. 

The sanctions have been choking up the financial channels that could be used for providing Iran with essential medicine, material, or medical equipment.

Although Washington and its Western allies claim that humanitarian goods were exempted from sanctions, tens of thousands of patients in Iran have over the years died or developed critical ailments due to the unavailability of essential drugs. 

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