Re: Euratom

Yes another area of concern is the European Medicines Agency which presently handles licencing of new drugs. There is concern that if we left then Britain would only get new drugs later in their development process and participation of British institutions in new drug development would be impeded. I have some knowledge of these issues as I was involved in drug development with the pharmaceutical industry when I was working as a doctor.

PS - The headquarters of the European Medicines Agency is presently in London..

Re: Euratom

I may be wrong and please correct me if you think I am but don't most of the new developments in new drugs come from outside the EU, not all but most. For example the USA the UK etc and therefore I assume that many drugs would be unaffected. If we are not in the EU then we are not bound by their regulations. Or is that too simplistic.

Re: Euratom

Pharmaceuticals are one of the UK's few remaining successful industries together with America but Licencing of new drugs has to be done on a wide international basis.

Re: Euratom

From the report:

"But Brexit legislation to leave the EU also means withdrawal from Euratom, a separate legal entity governed by EU institutions, because under the European Union Act 2008 the term "EU" includes Euratom."

This remains to be seen.

I should not be at all surprised to find that, having left the EU, we shall be invited to continue to participate in an organisation such as Euratom as it would be to our and the EU's mutual advantage.

Time will tell.

I suspect that the same will apply for this organisation (and probably others), especially as it is headquartered in London.

Re: Euratom

I hope that is the case but it is a risk.

Re: Euratom

Well yes, but what has it do do with the EU, when we are no longer a member, surely we license drugs for our own market and it would be extremely short sighted of the EU to if they didn't license the sale of any useful drug for their own use just because they disapproved of Brexit.

Re: Euratom

I wouldn't put it past them to cut off their collective noses to spite their collective faces!

Re: Euratom

The drug companies have to recoup large R&D costs and will go to licence in Europe and the US first as that will be where the big markets are. We don't have much clout on our own. So it makes sense for us to remain part of the EMA and gain access to drugs when they are first approved. It's also pointless duplication to set up our approval body. We have enough quangos as it is.

Funny we should be creating new layers of bureaucracy when that's what we are trying to escape...

Re: Euratom

Well I hope these various fudges are successful but cannot stop thinking that none of this would be needed if Britain had not decided to shoot itself in the foot with the Brexit referendum which should never have happened in the first place. Poorly educated people were asked to make a binary choice on an extremely complicated issue and they voted for seeing less Polish plumbers in their pub without realising the huge economic chaos and vast administrative problems that leaving the EU would bring. The less bright just felt that they wanted to defy the elite that was advising them to vote remain and instead sent the country to Hell in a Handcart in doing so!

Re: Euratom

Bleat, bleat, bleat.

It seems that our remainiacs are still throwing their dummies out of the pram.

We voted out. It is time that you people accepted in and channelled your efforts into the common purpose of making a go of it.

WE ARE NOT GOING TO REMAIN IN THE EU.