A report is warning the UK's medicine supply chain is "broken" with drug shortages becoming the "new normal" in Britain.
A report from the Nuffield Trust has concluded that the UK is facing “constantly elevated medicine shortages,” including some antibiotics and epilepsy drugs, which are being fuelled by Brexit.
‘The medicines supply chain is broken at every level,’ warns Dr Leyla Hannbeck.
Importers of laboratory reagents and materials used in the manufacture of medicines in the UK’s life sciences sector have been given a six-month extension to make the necessary changes to their supply chains for new post-Brexit border paperwork and border inspections.
Brexit: despatches from the downside – No 19
27/01/2024
This week's Brexit downsides: half a billion in extra costs to import food, the collapse of trade talks with Canada and more.
Collapsed trade talks, new border checks, 14-hour queues at the border and medicine shortages... it's just another day in Brexit land.
British pharmacists are struggling to get their hands on certain medicines for cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and menopause as drug supply issues intensify in the country.
The UK left the EU on January 31, 2020, and this began the complex process of de-coupling the UK regulatory regime from that of the EU. This has not been straightforward, particularly where goods move into and out of Northern Ireland (NI), where the EU rules continue to apply, from Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland (GB)), where they do not.
Global issues are factor but experts say there are problems peculiar to Britain such as rising costs post-Brexit.
Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’. / “Europe is securing access to key drugs and vaccines as a single region, with huge influence and buying power. As a result of Brexit the UK is now isolated from this system, so our drug supplies could be at risk in the future,” said Dr Andrew Hill, an expert on the pharmaceutical trade.
The shortages have left 70 per cent of patients surveyed by charity ADHD UK rationing their supplies.
We need to forge alliances to continue our global health leadership, writes the director of the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations.
Brexit: despatches from the downside – No 9
17/11/2023
Your weekly update from the Brexit ‘downside bunker’, chronicling the downsides, and occasional upsides, of Brexit.
Brexit is causing medicine shortages
07/11/2023
The supply of drugs, including of antibiotics, is being squeezed.
Medicine shortages in the NHS are 'as bad as they've ever been' as a new report blames Brexit for the supply issues. / Antibiotics, hormone replacement therapy drugs, and ADHD medication are all in short supply this winter with NHS chiefs forced to pay gouged prices in order to fulfil demand.
Patients put at risk as crisis hits supplies of vital antibiotics, HRT and anti-depressants. / Vital antibiotics, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs are among those in desperately short supply this winter – with the NHS forced to pay over the odds to get drugs into Britain.
Brexit and the red tape explosion
16/08/2023
Helmuth Porschen ponders the fate of UKCA and wonders why the government can’t persuade the rest of the world to adopt British standards.
Northern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.
No-deal Brexit planning may have 'crowded out' work on the UK's resilience preparedness for a pandemic
13/06/2023
The independent Covid inquiry has heard that Brexit may have interfered with and ‘crowded out’ the UK’s capacity to prepare for a pandemic.
More than half (54%) of the surveyed healthcare industry professionals indicated that their sentiment towards Brexit had become more negative. The largest proportion of them were based in the UK and the EU, with 71% and 70% recorded respectively in GlobalData’s report Thematic Intelligence: Brexit and the Healthcare Industry 2023.
Brexit has been “a horrendous experience for Maltese businesses,” according to the CEO of the Malta Chamber of SMEs.
EU moves to guarantee supply of medicines to Northern Ireland have so far worked but there are looming issues, peers have heard.
Lords committee to take evidence on impact of Northern Ireland protocol on medicine provision
25/01/2023
A House of Lords committee will discuss the impact of the Northern Ireland protocol on medicine supplies in Northern Ireland.
Lord Empey slams 'headlong emotional rush' into Brexit 'without any thought to the detail'
24/01/2023
Sir Reg Empey says he expects a hearing into how the NI Protocol is affecting medicine supplies on Wednesday to bring “more bad news”.
An organisation which represents medicines wholesalers says supplying Northern Ireland remains "challenging, problematic and inefficient".