Accord UK’s MD, Pete Kelly was recently interviewed by P3 magazine, as part of a feature on the impact the pandemic and Brexit will have on community pharmacy from a generic medicines perspective.

Pete conveyed Accord UK’s ‘cautious optimism’ for the year ahead, which has been based on experience of the steps taken during the outbreak of the pandemic and a review of the last 12 months analysis of the overall UK supply chain and generic medicine prices. Our ‘Beyond the Headlines’ report, which can be found in our Resources section, has shown that despite the disruption of the pandemic and the preparations for Brexit last year, that there was minimal impact on the overall UK supply chain and generic medicines price reimbursement.

The division of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK has created additional complications such as the twin track approach to the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) and other regulatory differences. Whilst acknowledging these are challenges that we will need to navigate, Pete reflected on how the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy responded to the initial FMD deadline back in 2019. It was a significant operation, but both rose to the occasion. The UK generics industry demonstrated agility and robustness and pharmacists showed their resilience to overcome such challenges in their commitment to deliver medicines to patients.

Although we can’t predict how future events might affect supply, Peter reassured P3 that Accord UK are monitoring the situation very closely and are working across all the supply chains to mitigate impact.

Pete concluded that we look forward to continuing to play a key role in the UK generic medicines market and our mission is, and remains, to maintain focus and commitment to providing high-quality and affordable medicines to patients.

You can read the full article on P3’s website here.