Pharma industry expects Brexit impact to be negative: GlobalData survey

Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) and entering into an 11-month transition period will be negative for the pharma industry, a majority of GlobalData survey respondents believe.

Some 35 per cent said Brexit will be strongly negative for the pharma sector and 19.6 per cent viewed it as slightly negative.

One in five respondents expects strongly positive impact while 5.99 per cent believe the results to be slightly positive. Some 19.46 per cent respondents remained neutral.

Allie Nawrat, GlobalData’s pharmaceutical writer, said: “Results show a pessimism from the sector, with 35 per cent of the 334 voters stating leaving the EU will be strongly negative for the pharma industry.

"However, the vote was not fully conclusive, with 20 per cent of respondents stating they were strongly positive about the impact of Brexit on the pharma industry – this is consistent with the majority of pharma industry professionals saying a Conservative Party government would be best for the sector in a December Pharmaceutical Technology poll”.

Nawrat said medical device industry also reported negative results and called it as the demonstration of how the concerns of the two closely related sectors intertwined.

“Since the 31 January only marks the beginning of the Brexit transition period, there is still significant uncertainty about how negotiations with the EU will progress and the impact these will have on pharma products. Until some of this uncertainty is alleviated, it will be difficult for pharma to view Brexit in a positive light,” Nawrat said.