Pharma and the UK

According to an article in Thursday's Financial Times
Leading pharmaceutical groups are cutting back on clinical research in the UK, claiming insufficient commitment by the government and the National Health Service to support new drug development.

Pfizer of the US, Roche of Switzerland and Merck-Serono of Germany are among the companies which have told the Financial Times they have, or will, reduce the number of British patients enrolled in trials to test experimental medicines for life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

The article goes on the quote Harpal Kumar, who is the head of Cancer Research UK, who said:

“In the long-term there is a serious risk that if we get to the point where none of the new drugs are being used in the UK, the trials won’t be done here.”

There are many issues that can be addressed concerning the ongoing debate between the Government in the UK and the Pharma industry over the issues of costs. But the overriding issue here is that people in the UK will ultimately be denied access to new innovative drug treatments. Innovative treatments that save lives will be available in the future, but for people in the UK, they will not have the option of using them. That is a crime.