Trade agreement claims

Responding to claims that the NHS would be part of any free trade agreement with the US, Warwick Smith, Director General of the British Generic Manufacturers Association and the British Biosimilars Association, said: “In line with its usual practice in free trade agreements, the US is trying to agree intellectual property requirements which go beyond World Trade Organisation standards and would delay competition from generic and biosimilar medicines that saves the NHS over £13bn per year.

If the US were to be successful, the delay on one blockbuster product could cost the NHS as much as £400m per year. No British Government should put the NHS and its patients at risk in this way.”