If a hard Brexit route is taken, there would be a significant loss of scientific funding for the UK drug industry, said think tank Public Policy Projects. At present, patients, drug manufacturers and taxpayers benefits from the results of shared clinical trials and drug approvals processes between the EU and the UK. The government has been under pressure to make drugs more affordable in recent years, with some medicines costing up to £3,000 per patient on average. Stephen Dorrell, a former Tory health secretary who heads the thinktank, said the government must be equally focused on Brexit’s implications for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries as it was on banking and the car industry. Life sciences currently contribute £60bn per year to the UK economy, employing around 220,000 people.
If a hard Brexit route is taken, there would be a significant loss of scientific funding for the UK drug industry, said think tank Public Policy Projects. At present, patients, drug manufacturers and taxpayers benefits from the results of shared clinical trials and drug approvals processes between the EU and the UK. The government has been under pressure to make drugs more affordable in recent years, with some medicines costing up to £3,000 per patient on average. Life sciences currently contribute £60bn per year to the UK economy, employing around 220,000 people.