Sanofi
stockpiling medicines in UK in case of Brexit no-deal
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[August 01, 2018]
PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi
on Wednesday said it had made arrangements for additional warehouse
capacity in Britain to stockpile drugs, as it makes contingency plans
for a potential no-deal over Brexit negotiations.
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Sanofi said it was confident its stockpiling measures would ensure
British patients have access to its treatments after Britain leaves
the EU, regardless of whether a deal over its future relations with
the bloc is in place.
The move highlights growing concern among major European companies
from retail to pharmaceuticals over the disruption that Britain
crashing out of the EU in March next year would cause to supply
chains.
"The uncertainty in the Brexit negotiations means that Sanofi has
always been planning for a no deal scenario," a spokesman with the
French drugmaker said in an emailed statement.
"We have made arrangements for additional warehouse capacity in
order to stockpile our products in the UK and increase UK-based
resources to prepare for any changes to customs or regulatory
processes."
The European Medicines Agency has warned drugmakers they needed to
be ready for a possible hard Brexit in 2019. It has also expressed
"serious concerns" over the availability of some 108 medicines that
are manufactured exclusively in the UK.
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More than 2,600 drugs have some stage of manufacture in Britain and
45 million patient packs are supplied from the United Kingdom to
other European countries each month, while another 37 million flow
in the opposite direction, industry figures show.
Earlier this month, British drugmaker AstraZeneca aid it was
increasing stockpiles of those medicines in Britain and continental
Europe that could be affected by Brexit by around 20 percent.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the stockpiling by
Sanofi late on Tuesday, said the drugmaker was increasing stocks for
all therapies by four weeks to a total of 14 weeks.
(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Richard Lough)
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