Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with pharmaceutical companies on access to medication for bleeding disorders in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care discusses a wide range of issues with a number of stakeholders and other Government Departments.
Medicines to treat bleeding disorders are in scope of our medicines contingency plans because these are licensed medicines. Contingency work for blood and blood components is being led by NHS Blood and Transplant.
We understand that these medicines are vitally important to many people in this country. Our contingency plans include sensible mitigations for medicines that come to the United Kingdom from or via the European Union to ensure that the supply of medications for bleeding disorders and other essential medicines for patients is not disrupted. In developing our plans, we have received very good engagement from industry who share our aims of ensuring that the continuity of supply of medicines and medical products for patients is maintained and able to continue unimpeded after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019.
We have asked companies to ensure a minimum of six weeks additional supply over and above existing business as usual stocks by 29 March 2019, or to make provision for airfreight of medicines that cannot be stockpiled.
That is why we are working to ensure we have sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity on alternative routes to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK. Medicines and other medical products will be prioritised on these routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.