Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to ensure a secure supply of radioisotopes used for cancer treatment in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

In August 2018, the Department wrote to all pharmaceutical companies that supply prescription-only and pharmacy medicines to the United Kingdom that come from, or via, the European Union / Economic European Area asking them to ensure a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the UK, over and above existing business-as-usual buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019.

We recognise, however, that certain medicines with short shelf lives, including medical radioisotopes, cannot be reasonably stockpiled. Where these medicines are imported from the EU or EEA, we have asked that suppliers ensure in advance plans to air freight these medicines from the EU in the event of a ‘no deal’ exit.

While stockpiling medicines and alternative air freight remains a critical part of our ‘no deal’ medicine supply contingency plans, we are also supplementing these with additional actions.

We have further secured sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity on alternative routes to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK. Medicines and other medical products will be prioritised on these routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded in a ‘no deal’ scenario.