AM I BEING UNREASONABLE TO ASK WHY WE CAN,T MAKE OUR

[portocristo]

OWN INSULIN THE UK AND NOT HAVE TO GET IT FROM GERMANY ETC?

Is this what the Brexit debate has come to? Shouty caps locks

Come to ? It started like that and went downhill ....

Urgh *ransom. not Random. Ruined my own sarky point with a typo

I wasn't swearing at you, I was swearing because a country taking actions that can result in people dying is fucking idiotic.

We do produce drugs here, and they are shipped to Europe etc etc. It's just far more efficient for companies to have dedicated production plants producing larger amounts of a few drugs and then shipping than it is to have multiple small production facilities in each country.

Besides which there are 'better' things than insulin itself coming some and they will be patent protected and from that limited to a few production facilities to ensure the quality of product.

Who is this 'we' of whom you speak OP?

The UK as a nation doesn't make medicine. We buy it from global pharmaceutical companies which are commercial enterprises, beholden only to their shareholders.

Entire countries in the developing world don't have access to certain drugs due to cost or supply chain issues or whatever. That's where Brexit has led the UK.

A minutes googling confirmed what someone said, there's no risk to insulin supply from Brexit. (To some extent this is because preparations have been made.)

As long as planes continue to fly, there's no risk of anything that can come in by plane being unavailable. (But it may cost more.)

I'm aware that previous threads have suggested that a no-deal Brexit means all planes will be grounded. A quick google confirms this isn't so. (Various preparations have been made to ensure it isn't so.)

@Lora8 - I know it because it's common knowledge, not to mention being the field I work in

I wasn't swearing atyou, I was swearing because a country taking actions that can result in people dying is fucking idiotic

And yet here we are

What brexit debate.

All they do is shout and swear from some project fear office.

Whatever you have to say, if you're going to shout in all caps you're being unreasonable!

Because we don't make it in the uk and half the country decided it would be a splendid idea to leave the countries who do make it with a giant two fingers up and blame them for a mess that half the country actually brought upon us.

Hun, the answer is because half the uk made a poor choice.

@DGRossetti very true. I just want to wake up and learn I’ve been in a coma and none of this is actually happening. It was just a terrible nightmare.

Governments don't make medication; drug companies make medication. Market forces determine where medication is produced.

Drug companies aren't responsible for making sure each country has an independent supply of what they produce. It's the kind of thing that should have been considered before the referendum and planned for since the referendum result.

Insulin is just one of this things we're going to struggle with. Welcome to the future.

I was desperately worried about my type one diabetic father who was insulin dependent for 60 years. When he died in March, one of my first thoughts was that at least he won't have to go through the stress of worrying whether the supply will fail.

The whole thing is a bit like some luddite morons voting to turn off the entire internet because they say it's a hotbed of perverts, lots of sensible people complaining, and then the odd half-wit asking

AM I BEIN UNRAESONABLE TO ASK WHY WE CANT GO BACK TODOING EVERYTHINK LIKE THE 1980s?????

I don't really want to be paying my gas bill in person by cash in the post office.
The world has evolved, we've developed interconnected and more efficient ways of doing things.

The world has evolved, we've developed interconnected and more efficient ways of doing things.

35 years ago, as part of my degree, I worked on some internet engineering protocols - "RFCs" - for email. (It's a boast on my cv ...)

35 years on (so at least 2 generations) and I am still dealing with companies that "don't do email", but who insist on a phone call to a music on hold service where you might be lucky to get an answer.

So you'll excuse my cynicism ...

I was being facetious about growing our own food folks, but it was only a matter of time before my sarcasm came and bit me on the arse 🙄.

I was going to suggest building our own computers in our own basements but I thought that would be taking the point too far. Oh well, shoulda, coulda , woulda.

Because we don't make it in the uk and half the country decided it would be a splendid idea to leave the countries who do make it with a giant two fingers up and blame them for a mess that half the country actually brought upon us.

This.

E.g. if every part of the world has 10 people needing insulin, we only really need one factory somewhere to produce it. Hope that makes sense.

Nice patronisation. 10 people, you say? That's bollocks though isn't it? There is no environmental reason not to make insulin here - it's the madhouse economics we have where sending things everywhere over long distances in trucks is cheaper than making then locally. Hope that makes sense - 10 people, sure.

Haven't read the whole thread, but that opening post... 😂

There is no environmental reason not to make insulin here - it's the madhouse economics we have where sending things everywhere over long distances in trucks is cheaper than making then locally.

Please could you elaborate on this?

What's involved in making insulin?

What are the pros and cons of having the manufacture centred in one place?

Why have the pharmaceutical companies that make it not set up manufacturing in the UK already?

What are the economies of scale and how would manufacturing it in the UK affect the price to the NHS?

I suspect that there are good reasons why the process is centralised and I'm interested to know what they are.

@familycourtq Maybe you should do it, then?

There is one company – Wockhardt UK – that produces animal-based insulin at its site in Wrexham. They estimate that their products are used by about 1,500 to 2,000 patients a year.

But that’s less than half of one percent of the 421,000 people who rely on insulin in the UK (according to an estimate from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in 2010).

Making more of own in UK would work out more expensive than getting from the large centres abroad.

People want everything for cheap

There was no point in investing in the infrastructure to make more insulin in UK facility when it wouldn't be definitely competitive on price, globally.

That is what lack of preparedness means for No Deal. UK needs YEARS to prepare for No Deal adequately, not 4 months. And why should business waste time and money preparing for No Deal when (above quote) was the mantra from the likely future PM?