Pharma suppliers put export ahead of NHS - Burns

Health minister Simon Burns blamed dwindling stocks of potentially life-saving asthma, cancer and diabetes medication on companies selling to lucrative export markets.

He told MPs: “Regrettably, a minority of operators in the supply chain are thought to be putting profit before patients.”

His accusation came in a short Commons debate on the supply of drugs to community chemists.

Labour MP Huw Irranca-Davies said pharmacists were spending increasing time calling suppliers to replenish stocks.

He added: “If they are doing that they aren’t doing the front-of-counter service we want in terms of helping people with minor ailments.”

Mr Irranca-Davies said patients were forced to wait for drugs while chemists filed emergency orders, and claimed delays could soon prove fatal.

He called for updated regulations setting deadlines by when drugs should be provided.

Mr Burns claimed one reason for delays was the value of selling drugs to eurozone countries.

He said: “Supply issues can arise as a result of parallel trade.

“That’s when medicines are bought at low prices in one European country and resold at higher prices in another. When the euro got stronger relative to the pound, exporting UK medicines to other European countries became more profitable.

“At the moment, parallel trade exports are therefore reducing the supply of medicine available to UK patients.”

Mr Burns said British pharmacists dispensed 900 million prescription items of 16,000 licensed medicines annually.

“It is a vast undertaking. Given the complexity and scale, there are from time to time difficulties,” said Mr Burns.

But he added: “There are existing legal duties on manufacturers and distributors within the limits of their responsibilities to maintain a suitable supply of medicines to pharmacies so the needs of patients are met.”