UK approved fewer new drugs than EU and US in year after Brexit transition
The UK approved fewer new medicines than the EU and the US in 2021, the first year after the end of the Brexit transition period, researchers at Imperial College London have found.
Their analysis shows that only 35 new drugs were approved for use in the UK by the country’s medicines regulator last year, compared with 40 approvals in the EU and 52 in the US.
Members of the academic community warned there could be negative knock-on effects for the UK’s role in scientific research and development (R&D).
Steve Bates, chief executive of the UK’s BioIndustry Association, said the Imperial analysis was a “wake-up call” for the UK, and stressed the need for the regulator to work closely with the NHS and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which recommends whether drugs should be available on the NHS. He said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines had been fast and the question was “how do we make that happen in other areas”.
All novel medicines in the UK have to be vetted and approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) since the start of 2021, when the country left the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU drugs regulator, on the back of the Brexit vote.
The EMA moved from London to Amsterdam in March 2019, closing its office in Canary Wharf, east London, that employed 900 people.
This means pharmaceutical companies have to spend more money and face extra paperwork to get new medicines approved in the EU and UK.
James Barlow, a professor of healthcare technology and innovation management at Imperial College Business School, who co-authored the analysis, said the findings raised questions as to whether the UK would stay attractive to international drugmakers in the long run.
“Despite the
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