Insulin

[fourplusonemore]

Okay, genuine question. Insulin is not made in the U.K. and can’t be by March. Lets say we leave with a no deal Brexit, how do we stop the diabetics dying? Since medical licensing have to hold licences in the country they’re being used in and the EMA would no longer be applicable without a regulatory agreement which we wouldn’t have in a no deal scenario, how does this work?

So that's the plan by JRM and the ERG, they are going to stop Theresa's insulin to get rid of her!

Countries outside the UK can sell their products

It’s not as simple as that though, is it? Some medicines with UK marketing authorisations are manufactured and packed in an English language pack in a EU country and shipped to the UK. There will be border delays at best, and associated costs. At worst, the MA holder will simply stop having the UK packs manufactured because it isn’t economically viable for them.

Those of us working in this field, with loved ones whose medicines are manufactured in the EU (who are already seeing those medicines more frequently supplied as parallel imports i.e. EU packs overlabelled in English), can be forgiven for being afraid. I don’t see how the NHS can weather the existing shortages situation becoming any worse without there being harm to patients.

Sorry, you are right that there are likely to be other complications but in simplistic terms the medications are available but the political and regulatory issues must be sorted out. Medical staff are probably going mad with the requests for what is going to happen, when they won't know themselves. Writing to MPs to persuade them to make an effort to stop this madness is one thing, but arming yourself with information in case there is a problem with supply could also be important.

That’s just it, I don’t know whether they are going to be available. The cost and hassle where both the MA holder and the manufacturer is elsewhere in the EU may just not be worth it for them. And if they are available they may not be labelled in English.

It’s certainly a risk and I haven’t seen any assesment of this risk. It’s all faith-based “oh the government won’t let it happen” and “manufacturers want to sell to the UK”, whereas the government has been pretty useless in other respects (Windrush, disability assessments), and its drive to reduce medicines expenditure at all costs has been one of the contributory factors in the shortages we are currently experiencing.

Yes I’m sure it will all be sorted out in the end, but at what cost to patients, and to the public purse?

So to answer your question we have no idea how we would get hold of DH’s medication in the event of a shortage, other than to rely on the DHSC to source it. We have much more knowledge than the average person about how all this works, and we are not reassured.

Really can't see them letting all us type 1s die. Chill

The opportunities for 'corruption' and 'worse' are incredible.
Slightly unscrupulous 'pharmacies' within Europe could buy stock then transport them to the UK for sale.
It would then be a lottery as to whether they were genuine articles or in a much worse scenario fakes.
Smuggling does go on and the Customs and excise of the UK has been found to be 'wanting' and with the massive disruption caused by anything but the smoothest of transitions there will be some that want to try their luck.
This is of course a bit of speculation as I don't know how 'secure' the transition from factory gate to (intended) end user is.

Really can't see them letting all us type 1s die

Who do you mean by “them”?

Really can't see them letting all us type 1s die. Chill.

So you think "they" might just let some of you die? Cool.

Ch0c0milkrocks wins the prize for least reassuring comment ever:

"Really can't see them letting all us type 1s die. Chill."

I’m not sure but I’ve been basically hoarding as many medical supplies as possible (not diabetic though).

Try and get prescriptions in early a little each time so that you end up with an over supply to get you through any “dry” spell? Best to start now whilst there’s not an overwhelming demand.

octopus your ignorance astounds me!
Dh is type 1. His pancreas doesn't produce insulin, it never will. Yours does, consider yourself lucky as without insulin you would be dead in a few days.
Dh has a bmi of 22. Type 1 is an incurable, chronic health condition.
Please don't get confused with type 2, which is largely due to lifestyle and can be controlled by diet and increasing exercise.
Type 1 diabetics need insulin!

While it is (presumably) obvious, the physical production of the medications is not a problem, it is entirely the procedure of getting them from the factory to the patient. Creating a documented trail to point to those responsible for any 'slip ups' (polite euphemism) may be important if patients suffer. The producers want to produce, the health service wants to help patients, all rests on the 'middle men'.

Dont understand the stockpiling thing, only moves the goal posts along 6 weeks, unless this is a rolling 6 weeks?
Why is a commercial company going to bare these extra storage and purchasing costs? unless they envisage charging more.

Government has had 2 years to formulate a deal and hasn't, they have another 7 months before we leave, so what good is an extra 6 weeks?

According to one former EU trade negotiator, there is not a deal to be done, any deal is negotiated AFTER we leave.

@WiseUpJanetWeiss

The powers that be

@Mistigri
Yeah, maybe
I'm in humalog hopefully they'll send some over from America

TBH I haven't the energy to worry, my diabetes is already causing me hell, perhaps a blessing in disguise if I have to go back to the pre insulin days of black coffee and whiskey til I die