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Challenges to sovereign ambitions: forces of convergence and divergence within the global pharmaceutical sector and the UK's withdrawal from the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

John S. F. Wright*
Affiliation:
Public Policy, Regulation and Governance, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, NSW2007, Australia
Dimitrios Doukas*
Affiliation:
EU Law, School of Law, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, ManchesterM13 9PL, UK
*
*Corresponding authors: Email: j.wright@uts.edu.au; d.doukas@manchester.ac.uk
*Corresponding authors: Email: j.wright@uts.edu.au; d.doukas@manchester.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper maps key regulatory, governance and legal challenges associated with the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in terms of convergent and divergent pressures within the global pharmaceutical sector. These include (i) convergent regulatory pressures associated with the European framework for pre-market licensing; (ii) convergent and divergent industry pressures with regard to drug discovery and manufacturing; and (iii) divergent and convergent market pressures associated with the supply, pricing and assessment of medicines. The UK's sovereign ambitions risk a loss of influence over the licensing and surveillance of pharmaceuticals under convergent regulatory and industry pressures to engage in unilateral participation in the European regime. Further, they also risk a loss of influence over processes for pricing and assessing the effectiveness of new treatment regimens under divergent market pressures from larger pharmaceutical markets outside the EU, notably the United States.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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