The Brexit (Over) Reaction

So, unless you’ve recently stepped off an alien spaceship in a field somewhere, you’ll be aware of Brexit. How will Brexit affect Life Sciences and the Pharmacology Sector? Well, if those aliens took you on a whistlestop tour of the future, you’ll know what the effects will be. Do tell, because – for the rest of us – there is literally no way of knowing.

You’ll have noticed that the media is full of declamatory opinions – both for and against, complementary and derogatory, utopian and dystopian – but, you may have also noticed, behind all this passionately-argued rhetoric, there is a lot of assumption, supposition and plain old-fashioned guess-work.

The truth is, no-one has left the EU before. Greenland left the EEC, back in 1982. But the EEC, then, isn’t the same as the EU now. Greenland, then, had a population of 50,000 while Britain, now, has 64 million. The world economy, then, was a very different thing from the world economy, now, 37 years later.

So there is little or nothing we can learn from Greenland’s experience.

The Brexit Experiment

Therefore, all of the ink and screen-time that has been spent, over the past few years – on proclaiming Brexit as either the high-road to a golden panacea, or a shortcut to the zombie apocalypse – is really just journalists and politicians promoting their own competing hypotheses.

The only way we’ll know for sure, is through experimentation. Britain leaving the EU is one massive experiment. But, while we’re waiting to see the results of separating the British element from the European Union matrix – what can we hypothesise about the future of Life Sciences and Pharma in Britain?

The Brexit Hypothesis

Is Brexit really going to lead to established protocols and business practices coming to an end? Will we run out of drugs and be back to rubbing potatoes on acne and curing myopia with carrots by summer?

No.

Health issues go beyond national borders.

There are 168 countries on Earth which are not in the EU … And they (by and large) have access to medicines, abide by legislation and employ health and safety protocols.

In an increasingly globalised pharmaceutical marketplace, do we really think manufacturers, regulators and our politicians are going to allow healthcare, research and manufacturing to simply grind to a halt while we patiently wait for our civil servants to haggle over the semantics of “agreements”?

No, of course not. Even the steadfastly anti-Brexit Guardian newspaper has admitted that companies have been making preparations, irrespective of the muddled messages coming from Westminster. The official guidelines have been to stockpile six weeks extra supplies, in case of problems with the Brexit transition. It seems that most manufacturers and retailers have stockpiled significantly more than that.

The Brexit Conclusion

Over 140,000 people work in the Life Sciences sector – with almost as many again in associated businesses. It is unimaginable that businesses this large, with investments this significant, are going to allow their fate to be decided by the whims of a few politicians.

This sector is ready.

So, while the voter in the street – however they voted during the Referendum – may have felt powerless and distant from the Brexit process, British businesses have done what British businesses do – they have adapted, planned and prepared.

The market will change – but that’s what markets do. The technology we employ will change – because that’s what technology must do to remain relevant and effective.

So, be assured, however legislation changes, ALLpaQ will provide bio-process storage to the highest possible standards. We won’t compromise on quality or safety, because you don’t.

And you’d also best believe that – if we weren’t committed to working with customers across Britain and Europe – and to developing stronger business ties well into the future – we wouldn’t have taken on Paul Verbeke as our new European Business Development Manager.

To talk more about your bioprocess needs, now and in the future, call +44 (0) 1472 800 373 or email enquiries@allpaq.com

Author

Phill Allen

Managing Director

Phill is an innovative thinker particularly in fluid management. His expertise lies in ensuring the seamless flow of pharmaceutical liquid logistics, whether it's optimising current processes or pioneering new approaches.

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