UK bans exports of essential medicines to protect NHS patients

The UK has banned exports of 80 medicines to help ensure the NHS is supplied during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has banned parallel exports of medicines including adrenalin, insulin and morphine, so that hospitals in the UK can treat patients in intensive care units.

Parallel exports are purchases of medicines meant for UK patients, but which are then sold on for higher prices in another country. It’s an exporting practice which can potentially disrupt the supply of medicines for the intended country of purchase.

The list of 80 medicines includes products which are all in high-demand across Europe, due to the ongoing pressure on health systems occurring through the Covid-19 outbreak.

Any company that parallel exports a banned medicine could face action from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and risks having its licence revoked.

Health minister Lord Bethell said: “Our brilliant NHS staff are going above and beyond to provide world-class care to patients with coronavirus and we are supporting them in every way we can.

We are today banning the parallel export of more than 80 crucial medicines to protect patients in the UK and help ensure they can always get the treatments they need.”

The full list of banned medicines can be found here.