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The man who is spearheading American drug firms’ planned raid on the NHS is banking on Boris Johnson ’s Brexit to hike up the cost of medicines.

Washington lobbyist Brian Toohey, of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group, refused to answer our questions when we confronted him outside PhRMA’s offices close to the White House.

He referred our enquiries to colleagues as he passed through the chrome-framed glass doors.

But PhRMA, and the other drugs companies we contacted, refused an interview, preferring not to talk about plans to increase their £500billion annual profits at the expense of our NHS patients.

At a conference two months ago, Mr Toohey was shamelessly open about the predatory intentions of the US drugs industry.

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

He said: “We need strong trade agreements and enforcement.

“When foreign governments set artificially low prices for medicines, it substantially reduces US companies’ resources for research.”

He added “wealthy foreign countries” should pay “market value”.

In January, Mr Toohey called for a “very high-standard agreement with the UK”. On post-Brexit trade talks, he said negotiators on both sides must ensure “full market access for US products” and “competitive” pricing.

It would mean our National Institute for Health and Care Excellence had less power to regulate cost-effective drugs.

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

It emerged on Sunday that some of the pharma giants Mr Toohey represents, including Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb, bought millions of NHS patients’ data.

A pharma insider told the Mirror in Washington: “They plan to aggressively target Britain and the NHS, which will not be in a position to resist as a less powerful player.

“They will use the ploy of needing to charge more for drugs to fund scientific research when the motive is always to raise profits.

“Britain will be forced to accept change to price-capped medicines if it wants a deal.

“They want changes to patent rules to enforce a monopoly on the marketplace and rid it of cheaper alternative products. Big pharma views Britain as a test case to flex its muscles.”

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

Jonathan Kimball, of the Association for Accessible Medicines, said: “The American pharmaceutical patent system is broken. Our drug pricing system is broken.”

Mr Kimball, who previously worked for PhRMA, said: “I don’t think anyone who cares about access and affordability would design a system like the one we have in the United States.

“We definitely should not use a trade agreement with the UK to export such a flawed system across the Atlantic. It would be bad for the UK healthcare system and it would be tragic for UK patients.

“In any trade agreement, it will be critical that the UK Government protect its NHS from the pressures of free pricing and expanded monopoly rights. These systems have failed the American patient.

“UK patients should not have to face the same fate.”

(Image: Rowan Griffiths)

Last month, we revealed that George Hollingbery, then a Tory trade minister, had talks with pharma firm Eli Lilly in 2018, fuelling fears that the Tories plan to sell off the NHS in a post-Brexit deal.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “Boris Johnson’s desperate Trump NHS trade deal will send the medicine bill through the roof.”

Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said: “This is precisely what we’ve been warning and proves that the NHS is not safe under the Tories.”

Mr Toohey insists any extra cash that NHS trusts would have to pay for drugs would be reinvested in research. But in Maryland, Juliana Keeping, who has fought for medicine for her son Eli, who has cystic fibrosis, said this was just not true.

As a baby Eli, now seven, was prescribed Synagis to prevent him getting a bad cold, which could be fatal. As the drug was £700 a dose, the insurers refused to pay out. Juliana, who now campaigns for Patients for Affordable Drugs, said: “If there are no competitors, the companies can literally put any price. They don’t negotiate.

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“They abuse the patent system to keep the price higher for longer. Because of this, Americans are having to cut pills in half, going without food, or even dying.

“If there is even an inkling of this happening, the UK should stand strong. Do not allow American drug pricing on your soil. Pharma will stop at nothing to drive their profits higher. They have no ethical backbone. Their main lie is that if their research budget drops we will all die. We are being held hostage.”

In Bethesda, Maryland, Stahis Panagides, 83, who has Parkinson’s disease, is unable to afford £4,000 a year for a new drug called Rytary, which his doctor has prescribed to reduce the effects of the disease.

With wife Joy, 78, at his side, he said: “Democracy should serve the people. Health should be a public right. But greed is what motivates the pharma companies.

“God forbid you in Britain end up with a system like this. The American system is a disaster.”