A hard Brexit would lead to the loss of scientific funding for the UK drug industry and would mean patients waiting much longer for life-changing medicines, a thinktank has warned. This would be lost under a hard Brexit, which could mean years of delays before vital new drugs come on to the UK market – and £144bn of lost sales for the UK life sciences industry by 2020. A hard Brexit would mean the UK having no access to the single market. Dorrell, who also chairs the NHS Confederation, warned that a hard Brexit would “take ourselves out of the scientific mainstream and thereby undermine the vitality of the British life sciences”. The UK life sciences, which David Cameron described as a “jewel in the crown”, risked being demoted to a “second-tier player”, Dorrell added.

Source: The Guardian November 02, 2016 17:56 UTC