Brexit is bad for business as pharmaceutical firm expects to pay £70m because of it

A scientist prepares protein samples for analysis at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey [Image: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters].

New regulation processes, labs and approval systems for 1,700 GlaxoSmithKline products – necessitated by Brexit – will cost this single company up to £70 million, the firm’s president is saying.

That’s just one company.

Admittedly, not all firms will be affected in a similar way or to a similar degree – but if only a few large concerns like GSK are affected, what will they conclude about doing business in the UK?

And remember, this is not the only impact that Brexit is going to have, starting immediately on March 29, 2019.

Right before I started writing this article, This Writer published a piece about the effect of leaving the EU-VAT area.

Many other adverse effects have already been demonstrated, and others are being identified every week, if not every day.

Brexit is bad for business. And that means it’s bad for the UK.

Up to £70m will have to be diverted from developing new cancer drugs in order to prepare for the impact of Brexit, Britain’s biggest maker pharmaceuticals of has warned.

In a stark intervention over the extra costs being incurred, Phil Thomson, president of global affairs at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), made clear that something approaching the figure would have to be spent whatever the outcome of trade talks.

In evidence to the Commons health select committee, he said he would rather be spending the money on the company’s efforts to find new, life-saving cancer treatments.

He said the company estimated that 1,700 of its products would be directly affected by a chaotic Brexit, with new regulation processes, labs and approval systems costing “somewhere between £60m and £70m”.

Source: Brexit to swallow £70m meant for developing cancer drugs, says GSK | Politics | The Guardian


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4 Comments

  1. Samuel Miller (@Hephaestus7) January 7, 2018 at 2:00 am - Reply

    Just a short note to mention that I currently own 223 shares of GlaxoSmithKline issued as an American Depositary Receipt (ADR). I’m already a staunch Remainer and this news doesn’t harden my stance on Brexit. But I am bullish on $GSK’s future prospects.

  2. jeffrey davies January 7, 2018 at 6:35 am - Reply

    ah but then this company screws us by pricing its drugs upwards

  3. aunty1960 January 7, 2018 at 12:34 pm - Reply

    BooHoo Glaxocline human experimental drugpushing company who has been overcharging our NHS for decades and upping the price of penicillin when there is a crisis is going to have to spend £70m more.

    I dont think so. Dont you realise? This is the weight and power against EU penalising us and affecting and destroying business, trade and jobs, The business sector themselves.

  4. rotzeichen January 7, 2018 at 4:21 pm - Reply

    This could be remedied within this country by creating a subsidy to compensate, not that I would call that a solution, but a sticking plaster over a problem that already exists within our manufacturing base, and why we have lost out in the past; this is a problem of modern day capitalism.

    As it stands should we within the EU want to subsidise manufacturing in this country, that would come into conflict with EU anti competition rules, noting we can’t compete with Germany as it is.

    The NHS is being bled dry by exorbitant prices charged by private drug companies, we need to integrate production and drug research into the NHS in order to stop this stranglehold by Pharmaceutical companies.

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