Sanofi could send drugs by plane to UK after Brexit

Sanofi, a Frenchman, said he could fly a flu shot in the UK if Brexit disrupted travel after the country left the EU.

Hugo Fry, general manager of his British branch, told BBC Radio 5 Live's Wake Up To Money program that the vaccine could not be stored.

Sanofi plans to store insulin and other vaccines for 12 months, but this is not possible with the influenza vaccine.

Fry badured listeners that the day after Brexit, patients will be able to access all the medicines that it has been possible to store.

He told the program: "You can not store it (the vaccine) because it is manufactured at a given time of the year and it is only available for import in the month end of August / beginning of September", did he declare.

Fry noted that patients are Sanofi's main concern, despite the added expense of using airbridges to get the vaccine to British patients.

He said: "We are preparing in different ways and have prepared many different routes to the UK.

"If we have to do it in the end, we will do it by plane.

"We bear the cost, but patients and citizens are our main concern, so we are very happy to take this cost and plan."

Last August, Sanofi announced an increase in its inventory by four weeks to allow it to supply drugs for 14 weeks.

Most of Sanofi's supplies enter the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel – disturbances on this route, caused by strikes in France, have caused disturbances of about four weeks.

Mr. Fry added, "We are doing everything we can to make sure everyone gets their medications and vaccines so they can be rebadured and not worried about that."

Many large pharmaceutical companies, such as Novartis, have stated that they stock drugs in the UK in the event of a logistical disruption after Brexit.

Ipsen Chief Executive David Meek told Pharmaphorum earlier this year that the UK would outpace the US, Europe and China in regulatory drug filing, potentially delaying patient access the latest innovations.