An analysis by pharmaceutical and life sciences recruitment consultancy NonStop Recruitment has revealed that Britain’s exit (Brexit) from the European Union (EU) entails the possibility to directly damage the UK pharmaceutical industry.
If the UK exits from the EU, the pharmaceutical industry of the country would still have to follow regulations to sell in the single market, though they would not have any say in what these regulations were.
NonStop Pharma team leader Matt Beedle said: "From our analysis and the many others that have been released, it’s clear that the pharmaceutical and life sciences fields would be directly impacted in the case of a Brexit.
"Yes, the situation isn’t perfect at the moment, however, the outlook would still be far worse if we were to vote leave."
On leaving the EU, the country would also lose out on the greater patent protection, as well as support for research that it currently receives from being a member state of the union.
With the move, the country will also lose the expertise of thousands of highly skilled European professionals of the industry.
According to Beedle, the move might force the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to relocate, which would see many of the UK-based pharmaceutical companies relocating potentially to Ireland.
Beedle added: "We have such a powerful industry here that it seems like a huge error to leave, particularly at a time when our industrial output is growing at its fastest rate for four years, which has been heavily boosted by the pharma sector."
A Brexit would affect all UK businesses that utilise the expertise of European professionals.
The businesses would have to face a much larger administrative challenge as they would continue having a diverse workforce.
