Mark Samuels on why accessing medicines, from routine to life-changing, is getting harder; Philip Clayton wonders why we don’t manufacture our own drugs
News that European countries are working together to safeguard drug supplies with a stockpile of 200 critical products comes at a time when the UK is facing the increasingly bleak prospect of more regular shortages (EU plan for medicine stockpile could worsen UK’s record shortages, 25 January).
Generic medicines – exact copies of original patented products – fulfil 80% of all prescriptions used by NHS patients. They also save the taxpayer £15bn annually via a competitive market, which has meant we have enjoyed the lowest medicine prices in Europe. However, a range of threats are undermining the resilience of the UK’s generic medicine supply chain, meaning shortages are becoming much more common.
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