Pfizer anticipates cost of preparing for impending Brexit could hit $100mn

The US-based pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has announced that it anticipates the costs of preparing for Brexit to reach $100mn, Bloomberg reports.

It has been reported that the costs have surged from “transferring product testing and licences to other countries, changing clinical trial management procedures, and other preventive measures”.

It is expected that the running of Pfizer’s operation is due to experience a negative impact because of incoming restrictions to the ability to import and export goods out of the UK.

Pfizer, along with other pharmaceutical companies operating in the UK, must work “to meet EU legal requirements after the UK is no longer a member state, especially in the regulatory, manufacturing and supply-chain areas” because of the upcoming Brexit.

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Bloomberg reported that around 2% of Pfizer’s $53bn revenue in 2017 stemmed from its operations in the UK, and that uncertainty surrounding the manner in which the UK will leave the EU “has forced companies including AstraZeneca Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and U.S.-based Merck & Co. to prepare for a worst-case scenario.”

The head of an industry trade group reportedly said: “Hundreds of millions of pounds are being spent on getting ready that could have gone to developing new treatments”.

Of the effect these complications may have upon patients, Pfizer said: “In order to minimize any potential patient impact we have undertaken work to ensure we can continue to supply in the EU and the U.K. covering all Brexit scenarios”.

Bloomberg, citing the British Medical Journal, added: “Brexit also threatens supplies of medical isotopes that are used to diagnose and treat about 1 million people in the U.K. each year.”