Post-Brexit trade deal with US will see NHS drug prices rise, says diplomat US pharmaceuticals firms ‘want us to pay more’

A post-Brexit trade deal with the US will see NHS drug prices soar, claims one of Britain’s foremost diplomats.

Sir Kim Darroch, former British ambassador to Washington, has warned a trade deal struck with the US in the wake of Brexit would mean the NHS pays more for pharmaceutical products from America.

He told The Guardian: “I know what the US will be pitching for when they negotiate a free trade deal with us.

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“They will pitch for massively greater access to agricultural products…

“They will also want us to pay the same for American pharmaceuticals as they pay in their own market.

“Do they want us to pay more for their pharmaceuticals? Do the pharmaceutical companies want to use this leverage? Of course they do.”

US trade deal

At present the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence sets a price cap on drugs used in the NHS.

The UK can block American drugs not deemed “value for money” and allow cheaper alternatives to be prescribed to patients which saves the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

US pharmaceutical companies are forced to sell their products at a lower price to the UK than in the US.

However, this could be under threat in a new transatlantic trade deal.

With a US election on the horizon, Sir Kim said Donald Trump would be keen to please voters and this would affect any deal with the UK.

Vote pleaser

“He believes in America first”, Sir Kim said of the US president, adding, “And he believes, particularly, in rewarding people who vote for him and that is American farmers and big American corporations.”

The diplomat resigned his post in Washington last July after his cables to London were leaked, in which he had referred to Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept”.

His claims echo warnings made last year about post Brexit NHS drug price hikes.

A Channel 4 investigation last October revealed “drug pricing” was discussed in six initial meetings between US and UK trade officials and secret meetings between US drugs firms and British civil servants, where medicine “price caps” were talked about.

Drug price warnings

According to the investigation, the cost to the UK government could be approximately £27bn.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said:“The Government has been clear that when we are negotiating trade deals, the NHS will not be on the table.

“The price the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table. The services the NHS provides will not be on the table.

“In any negotiations on future trade agreements we will never include any proposals that would put NHS finances at risk or reduce clinician and patient choice.”