Drugmakers face prospect of import levies and shifting manufacturing in event of 'hard Brexit'

The reality of a ‘hard Brexit’ – the UK leaving the European Union (EU) without a trade deal in place between the two parties – could lead to UK medicines being treated as imports by the EU and force drugmakers to set up some operations within member states.

That is the warning provided by a document issued by the European Commission and European Medicines Agency (EMA) attempting to provide some answers to drug companies confused about how they will supply continental markets.

The document states that, in the absence of a deal, medicines and substances used to make them which originate from the UK will be viewed as imports. Drugmakers might have to move manufacturing to within the EU to avoid tariffs, therefore, and they might have to set up facilities in a member state anyway due to regulatory obligations.