Government issues letter stating commitment to protect patients and life science industry

Posted in Life sciences and healthcare

In a letter to the Financial Times, Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark (the UK’s health and business secretary respectively) declared their commitment to maintain patient safety, support the UK life sciences industry and ensure access to new and innovative medicines. They proposed to fulfil these aims by finding a way to continue collaborating with the EU through strong regulatory frameworks, sharing of data and working closely with the European Medicines Agency.  The letter assures patients and industry that, should negotiations fail to achieve the desired close collaborative relationship, a separate and competitive regulatory system would be set up to achieve these objectives. According to the paper, Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, welcomed the government’s stance and at the same time forewarned that the supply of medicines can be affected unless the regulatory position is known in advance, given the industry’s long timelines for drug development.