As of this morning over 17 million people in the UK voted for the UK to leave the European Union and all of us are now questioning what will happen. Panicking and chaotic statements are spreading like wildfire across social media. What will happen to the pharmaceutical industry in the UK?
There have been rumours that the European Medicine Agency will leave the UK now and this could make it harder to get new drugs approved for clinical trials in the UK but at the same time it would cut the red tape imposed by EU bureaucracy. Switzerland and Canada already take 150 days to approve medicines would this be the same time frame experienced in the UK?
Regulators have already warned that Brexit could delay new drugs coming onto the market even in emergency situations. It would also cause delays in accessing information relating to recalls of drugs and medical devices. The MHRA alone approves about 40% of all devices and drugs on the European Market and have confirmed they will not be able to cope in approving all of these items for the UK market and having a united European regulator assisted in approvals. The UK market only accounts for 3% of Worldwide pharmaceutical sales and are manufacturers really going to pay twice for putting their drugs on the European and UK markets? If the manufacturers do have to pay twice the cost would ultimately be passed down to either the NHS or the end users. At a time when the NHS already has huge deficits in their finances, are they really in a capable position to absorb these costs?
The European regulators have already approved the Falsified Medicines Directive with the introduction of 2D barcode scanners on all pharmaceuticals to ensure full traceability. Will Britain still have access to this database or will it become a hub for falsified medicines? Another database that is invaluable to us is the EudraGMDP database. Will Britain be able to use or contribute towards this database or will we have to build our own at the expense of the taxpayer?
At this time of writing, the MHRA have not released a statement in regards to the future of pharmaceutical distribution in the UK, and it is all guess work at the moment. Hopefully in time the answers will become clear but at this moment it is business as usual!
Written by Kim Peck