Trump drug tariffs ‘risk medicine shortages across Britain'
Ministers have been told to draw up plans to ensure patients can keep accessing vital medicines, after the US president on Tuesday threatened new tariffs of up to 200pc on pharmaceutical imports.
Mr Trump said the White House would be announcing 'something very soon on pharmaceuticals'.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, the chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said any new levies would have 'direct consequences for our patients and the community pharmacies they rely on'.
The UK imports around £27bn worth of medicines and pharmaceutical products every year and exports £8.8bn of pharmaceutical products to the United States.
Although the UK may be able to negotiate a rapid exemption from new US levies on medicine imports following its trade deal with Mr Trump, any tariffs would be expected to send shockwaves through the drug supply chain.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said there were concerns over what would happen to drug prices in the UK if Trump followed through on his threats. He said the UK medicine supply chain was 'complex and dependent on many international factors, including events in the US'.
Dr Hannbeck said higher prices could make it harder for local pharmacies to keep stocking medicines, adding: 'New tariffs threaten to push up the price of many vital medicines way beyond the level at which the NHS currently reimburses pharmacies.
'That would be unsustainable, presenting a real and present danger to the viability of independent pharmacies across the country and exacerbate medicines shortages that many patients are currently experiencing.'
Price rise fears
Dr Hannbeck said ministers needed to be ready to take 'immediate and decisive action to protect pharmacies' ability to buy the medicines patients need' if Mr Trump imposed new tariffs. She added: 'The medicine shortage can't get worse, the Government needs a plan.'
It comes amid growing alarm at the high level of drug shortages in the UK after years of Britain being overly reliant on medicine ingredients manufactured abroad.
A poll conducted by the National Pharmacy Association in March found that all 500 pharmacies surveyed were unable to dispense a prescription at least once a day as a result of supply issues.
Earlier this week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on pharmacy pointed to research suggesting shortages were a routine feature of daily practice for 84pc cent of pharmacists. MPs said shortages of medicines were becoming a 'permanent and escalating feature' of the UK healthcare system.
The UK currently pays more than three times less for its medicine supplies than the US. It has been a gripe of Mr Trump, who is understood to be pressing the NHS to pay more for innovative drugs under the terms of a UK-US trade deal.
Pharma bosses are currently locked in talks with the Government over an NHS spending cap, designed to keep the UK medicine bill down. However, both sides have yet to reach an agreement, delaying the Government's long-awaited life sciences strategy plan.
Mr Gregg said: 'Medicine shortages and problems in the supply chain can be devastating for patients whose health depends on a reliable and predictable supply of medication.'
Paul Callaghan, policy manager for patient group Healthwatch England, said: 'If supply issues risk worsening, it's more important than ever that action is taken... It is clear that many patients find current medicine shortages both frustrating and distressing.'
Shares in drugmakers AstraZeneca and GSK initially slumped following Mr Trump's warning over pharma tariffs on Tuesday night. However, both stocks later recovered as investors realised companies would have time to prepare.
Mr Trump said on Tuesday: 'We're going to give people a year, a year and a half to come in and after that they're going to be tariffed if they bring pharmaceuticals into the country.'
A government spokesman said: 'The UK has well-established ways of managing the cost of medicines and clear processes in place to protect against risks to supply. Our trade agenda would never stop this.
'We were the first country to agree a deal with the US that lowered tariffs on key sectors, protected jobs and received one of the lowest reciprocal tariff rates in the world. Conversations with the US are ongoing and we will work closely with them to implement the best deal for the public and our economy.'
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