COVID-19 – UK Pharmaceutical Industry Response

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry have today [16/03/20] launched a ‘Responding to COVID-19‘ webpage, with information about the potential impact of the pandemic on the medicines supply chain and the steps being taken to safeguard supplies, including:

• The UK Government has asked pharmaceutical companies where possible to retain any remaining additional stockpiles of medicines that were built in preparation for a ‘no deal’ Brexit.
• The Department of Health and Social Care have stood up the National Supply Disruption Response (NSDR) to monitor the supply situation and co-ordinate actions to address any incidents of supply disruption where normal procedures are unable to provide a resolution.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturers have received guidance directly from the DHSC.

The ABPI COVID-19 page also carries this important announcement:

Our members are not currently reporting any concerns about shortages of medicines that relate to the loss of manufacturing capacity as a result of COVID–19 restrictions.