News
HDA UK Media And Political Bulletin – 21 September 2017
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Media Summary |
| Patients could face medicine shortage
Sky News, Paul Kelso, 21 September 2017
Sky News reports on a warning issued by the pharmaceutical industry that British patients could face drugs shortages and long delays for new medicines as a result of the European Medicines Agency being forced to leave the UK after Brexit. Drugs companies told Sky News that the EMA’s departure will damage the UK’s position as a centre of drugs innovation and as a result patients may have to wait for new treatments that currently reach the British market first.
DH will consult public on changes to pharmacy supervision law Chemist and Druggist, Grace Lewis, 20 September 2017
Chemist and Druggist reveals that the Department of Health (DH) will set up a programme board that will be responsible for holding a public consultation on pharmacy supervision “before it settles on a firm set of proposals”. The DH programme board responsible for “rebalancing” medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation “will consult…a range of pharmacy stakeholders, including patients and the public” before submitting changes to pharmacy supervision legislation the Department of Health has confirmed to Chemist and Druggist.
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Patients could face medicine shortage Sky News, Paul Kelso, 21 September 2017
British patients could face drugs shortages and long delays for new medicines as a result of the European Medicines Agency being forced to leave the UK after Brexit, the pharmaceuticals industry has warned.
Drugs companies have told Sky News that the EMA’s departure will damage the UK’s position as a centre of drugs innovation and in turn mean patients have to wait for new treatments that currently reach the British market first.
The EMA, which licences medicines for 500 million Europeans and oversees an industry worth £200bn, has been based in London for more than 20 years, but will leave its Canary Wharf headquarters after March 2019.
The agency is seen as a prestigious and valuable asset by other European nations and there is fierce competition to succeed London between cities from 19 of the EU’s 27 remaining nations.
DH will consult public on changes to pharmacy supervision law Chemist and Druggist, Grace Lewis, 20 September 2017
A Department of Health (DH) programme board will hold a public consultation on pharmacy supervision “before it settles on a firm set of proposals”, the government has told C+D.
The DH programme board responsible for “rebalancing” medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation “will consult…a range of pharmacy stakeholders, including patients and the public” before submitting changes to pharmacy supervision legislation, it confirmed to C+D yesterday (September 19).
C+D exclusively revealed last week that detailed proposals for pharmacy technicians to be handed legal responsibility for supervising the supply of prescription-only medicines (POMs) have been submitted to the DH programme board.
A working group, established by the UK’s four chief pharmaceutical officers, also suggested amending legislation to allow a pharmacy technician to, in the pharmacist’s absence, undertake the “supervision role” of determining when medicine supplies can go ahead and “overseeing the activities of other, non-regulated, pharmacy staff”, according to confidential documents seen by C+D.
The DH told C+D yesterday that the programme board “is continuing to consider the role of registered pharmacy technicians”.
When will ministers get involved? On Monday (September 18), C+D reported that the DH failed to confirm whether Jeremy Hunt knew about pharmacy supervision proposals, a month after he tried to “reassure” a pharmacist on the subject.
Speaking to C+D yesterday, a DH spokesperson stressed that only after a public consultation has been held “will proposals be submitted to ministers for consideration”. |
