The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has included 82 medicines in the list of medicines that cannot be parallel exported from the UK.
The move comes in the wake of COVID-19 crisis, and the medicines banned from parallel exporting include those used to treat patients in intensive care units.
The new restrictions, announced on 20 March, cover ‘crucial’ medicines such as paracetamol, insulin, adrenaline and morphine.
“We are banning the parallel export of more than 80 crucial medicines to protect patients in the UK and help ensure they can always get the treatments they need,” Health minister Lord Bethell said.
The government said the ban will help ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines for NHS hospitals treating coronavirus patients.
Parallel exporting allows companies to buy medicines meant for UK patients and sell on for a higher price in another country. The medicines included in the ban are in high demand across Europe as the spread of COVID-19 worsens in the continent.
The DHSC added that it has existing, well-established processes to deal with and resolve medicines shortages.
