ABPI head warns Brexit costing 'hundreds of millions of pounds'

The head of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), Mike Thompson, has said that drugmakers in the UK are having to spend hundreds of millions of pounds preparing for Brexit.

In an interview, he warned people would “look back and say this money has been wasted,” as pharmaceutical firms prepare for a changed regulatory and trade environment that could require new facilities to be built.

Much of the ambiguity relates to the UK’s role in the European Medicines Agency (EMA). While the British government has said it would like to continue to be a part of the pan-European medicines regulator, it is not yet clear on what terms this would occur.