Brexit: Drugs industry appeals to Boris Johnson for urgent action to avoid no-deal medicine shortages

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “There are many thousands of medicines used by the NHS and other health systems and all of them require good flow of trade across borders, both within the EU and internationally, so it is very important.” With 12,000 types of medicines supplied to the NHS alone, Mr Torbett said it was impossible to predict which drugs would be most likely to run short in the absence of an agreement, though he said patients with chronic conditions were most likely to be affected first, simply because they have more regular contact with the health system. “If you don’t do that, you can stockpile all you like and you can have all the ferries you like, you will introduce delays as more things have to get tested multiple times, which is obviously cost and complexity in the supply chain that we don’t want.” Mr Torbett said resolving the issue was all the more urgent because of the coronavirus pandemic gripping countries on both sides of the English Channel, which is soaking up vast proportions of drugs companies’ time and resources. “At a time of global pandemic, where we’re trying to keep medicine supplies going to the NHS and every other health system in the world, with half the global economy shut down, we really don’t need any more nonsense in the supply chain,” he said. “We know the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS have developed extensive plans to keep supplies coming into the NHS, and with the COVID-19 pandemic still certain to be a major factor in January, we very much hope they prove successful.” A DHSC spokesperson said: “The government has proposed to the EU an agreement on medicines and medical devices which would provide significant benefits to patients, industry and regulators in the EU and UK, including ensuring we have quick access to new treatments.