Global issues are factor but experts say there are problems peculiar to Britain such as rising costs post-Brexit.

Fears extra expense and paperwork caused by Brexit will make Britain unattractive to global drugmakers.

President will put US firms first in UK trade talks, says Kim Darroch

Asked if Washington would be free to ‘jack up prices’, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab replies ‘The Americans will take their decisions’.

George Hollingbery, then trade minister, and John Saville, Her Majesty’s Consul General in Chicago met a pharmaceutical company's senior director in August last year to discuss a post-Brexit pact.

'What they will actually target is the process by which we control pharmaceutical pricing. That is where they will be pushing - we have to resist them'

The UK is going to be at a distinct disadvantage in this negotiation – desperate for a deal the US could happily live without.