DIRECTORS of EdenBrook Investments deny US claims that their company is involved in trade with Cuba, writes Colm Keena.
But the firm, based in Merrion Square, Dublin, has been trying to broker a deal between a European manufacturer and the Cubans for the production of a vaccine for meningitis B, according to directors.
Cubans have produced and patented the vaccine, which is the only one of its kind in the world. But the Cubans have been unable to produce it for the world market.
EdenBrook was established in 1993 by directors, Mr Domhnaill O Muimhneach and Ms Tara Fay. It is linked to Edenbrook Commodities.
Ms Fay said it was a commodities brokering firm which has examined the possibility of exploiting Cuban biotechnological know how.
Mr O Muimhneach was quoted in the Boston Globe newspaper last year: "The Americans are losing out," he said of the US embargo. "All I can say is please give us three more years.
Yesterday, he said the latest US anti Cuba moves "could put us out of business". EdenBrook "did have hopes" that it could profit from involvement with Cuba, he said.