EU membership accelerates medical innovation and protects patients

Over many years the EU has built international collaborative structures that robustly serve public health. Brexit would certainly mean losing the European Medicines Agency to another EU country, but what would be the wider impacts for the UK pharmaceuticals industry and patient safety?

From agreements of cross-border care to health research collaboration, public health protections and shared institutions; there is much at stake in this referendum debate. One key pillar of health is pharmaceuticals, where the London-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) has a central role in supporting medical innovation and ensuring patient protection. A Brexit would certainly mean losing the EMA to another EU country, but what would be the wider impacts for the UK pharmaceuticals industry and patient safety?

Over a billion prescriptions are dispensed and a further 2.5billion of pharmaceuticals bought over the counter in UK pharmacies annually - products of global trade. EU law currently assures their quality, safety and effectiveness. That legal framework covers clinical trials, market authorisation of new medicines, manufacture and distribution and the continuous benefit-risk review of medicines on the market. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), a decentralised body of the EU, coordinates the work from its headquarters in Canary Wharf, London. The working language is English; the UK's national authority, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), plays an influential role but every aspect of the system depends on effective collaboration between regulators and experts of all 28 Member States.