The House Article | The pharma deal with the US is woefully short-sighted

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The government has recently announced a US-UK pharmaceuticals deal, promising that the UK will be given priority for new medicines and become a “life sciences superpower”. In reality, the deal looks set to cost the NHS billions each year for little to no discernible benefit. That’s why I’m joining patients’ groups and experts in calling for a proper debate before any deal is signed. 

Before entering Parliament, I worked for almost 20 years in the pharmaceutical regulation and compliance industry. I know very well the pressures facing the sector, and all the challenges that can prevent potentially life-saving drugs from reaching the market. There aren’t many MPs who have come to the Commons from that industry, but you don’t need two decades of experience to see what is happening here: Big Pharma companies, with the backing of Trump, are trying to strong-arm our government into accepting massive price rises. 

Under the terms of this deal, England’s medicines watchdog, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), will be forced to raise its threshold for assessing the ‘cost effectiveness’ of new medicines by 25 per cent. That means paying more for medicines – and accepting worse value for money. The government is also seeking to ram through legislation that would give government ministers the power to raise the value-for-money threshold, removing NICE’s independence over such decisions.

Worse, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed to me that it will seek to impose this dangerous change through the back door. This means MPs are unlikely to have the chance to debate or vote on changes that would expose the NHS further to corporate lobbying for higher prices. 

At the same time, the deal with Trump will dismantle NHS safeguards against overspending on medicines. The costs of making these drugs haven’t risen by some similar proportion – research by Global Justice Now shows that of the drugs that are costliest to the NHS, the majority could be manufactured for less than 10 per cent of the price pharma companies charge the NHS. 

The government has so far confirmed that the deal will cost £1bn over its first three years, to be taken from existing NHS funding, and they’ve conceded that costs will then grow year-on-year. With a commitment to double spending on medicines to 0.6 per cent of the UK’s GDP, that would mean an eye-watering £9bn extra each year.   

The health economist Professor Karl Claxton has calculated that diverting even £1bn from existing NHS budgets could cause over 4,500 additional deaths every year. He predicts the greatest impact on reduced survival would be for patients with cancer, circulatory, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases.  

Our government has agreed to this deal largely because of the threats Trump is levying on the UK: a 100 per cent tariff on our drug exports if we don’t play ball. But even on these terms, the government’s approach is woefully short-sighted. In exchange for permanently slicing away our safeguards against NHS overspending, we’ll get just three years of tariff-free pharma exports. With industry figures already reporting that the Trump administration is planning yet another raid on NHS budgets, it’s even harder to see the strategy behind the concessions we’re making. 

And for all the talk from the Labour government about life sciences investment, there are no signs or guarantees that any such investment will be forthcoming. One big pharma company, AstraZeneca, has already announced that it will maintain its freeze on any UK investments despite this deal. 

Ultimately, the refusal to allow democratic oversight on this deal should worry us all. This deal has been pushed through with no parliamentary input, and both politicians and the public have been left in the dark as to the deal’s full text and the government’s assessment of the likely impacts on the NHS.

The government is conducting this deal in secrecy because it knows it cannot explain to voters, in plain English, why it is letting Trump hold the NHS budget hostage. Labour knows that this deal could badly damage public finances and the NHS. That is why it is preventing MPs from debating it. 

I call on all MPs from all parties to join me in demanding transparency over the terms of the UK-US pharma deal. The public deserves to see both the deal itself and the impact assessment, which the government is withholding. 

With such dire possible consequences for the health and lives of NHS patients, Parliament must have the final say over whether we’ll accept Trump and big pharma’s bullying. If we give in this time around, they’ll only be coming back for more.

Iqbal Mohamed is the Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley