After a tumultuous election, the UK is left with a hung parliament and a minority government – a result few could have predicted just a few months ago. As an industry with deep connections in the UK, pharma is understandably worried about any prolonged uncertainty in the country, but many in the industry remain optimistic. This issue we assess the impact of the election with not one but two features covering the implications of the result for the NHS (p20) and the pharma industry as a whole (p28) – as well as articles examining the related issues of the NHS’ funding squeeze (p16) and the PPRS scheme (p26).
And one can’t talk about the election without mentioning Brexit in the same breath. After a year of uncertainty, we’re finally getting a solid sense of what the UK’s divorce from the EU might actually mean for the industry going forward. Pharma’s first big challenge is the relocation of the EMA from its current headquarters in London, and on p22 we look at what impact this could have on UK pharma firms and where the agency’s new home might end up being.
Elsewhere, we look at new ways to breathe life into neglected, low-priority pipeline drugs (p32), and this month’s PatientFiles (p45) focuses on narcolepsy – which, as Matt O’Neill, chairman of charity Narcolepsy UK, explains, is about more than just falling asleep.
