Novo Nordisk becomes latest to stockpile drugs ahead of Brexit
Shortly after the UK government advised all pharma companies with UK operations to stockpile six weeks’ worth of drug supply, Novo Nordisk released a statement confirming it would be building stocks of insulin products.
The Danish company went further than the recommended six weeks of supply by revealing that from the fourth quarter of this year onwards, it would hold approximately 16 weeks’ worth of supply.
Novo Nordisk joins a number of companies that have already announced similar plans, such as AstraZeneca and Sanofi. The preparations are being made in the event on a ‘no deal’ Brexit that could see the supply of medicine from the European Union (EU) being limited.
As a result of this, some UK patients have reached out to the company itself in an attempt to understand if there is the potential for stock shortages.
Hi Rebecca. At present, we do not anticipate stock shortages. We are strongly committed to ensuring that patients treated with our medicines remain unaffected.
— Novo Nordisk (@novonordisk) July 28, 2018
Best regards
Iben
The response from Novo Nordisk’s twitter account came before the company had announced plans to stockpile treatments.
However, a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk confirmed to us that the company had been “planning for future contingencies, such as possible delays at the borders and other scenarios, including a ‘no deal’ Brexit for a number of months.”
Beyond stockpiling plans, the spokesperson commented: “We are looking at all of our products and updating the requirements based on our framework agreements, and based on the technical notices and guidance published by the Government to industry. We’re working closely with trade associations in the UK and EU to ensure that the interests of our patients are at the foremost of negotiations. We strongly hope that effective negotiations will allow continued close UK-EU collaboration, irrespective of the outcome, in the best interests of patients.”
