Flu vaccine could be airlifted into the UK in event of no-deal, warns French drugs firm

'If we have to in the end, we will airlift it in,' says UK boss of Sanofi

The vaccine cannot be stockpiled in the same way as other medicines (Getty)

Flu vaccine could be airlifted into the UK after Brexit if routes via ferries or the Channel Tunnel are disrupted, the boss of a leading drugs company has said.

“We prepare in different ways and have prepared many different routes into the UK,” Hugo Fry, the UK managing director for French pharmaceutical company Sanofi told the BBC’s Wake up to Money radio programme on Tuesday.

“If we have to in the end, we will airlift it in.”

He added: “We are eating the cost of that but patients and citizens are our primary concern, so we’re quite happy to take that cost and make that planning.”

Flu vaccine cannot be stored in the same way that some other medicines can, Mr Fry warned.

“You can’t stockpile it because it’s made at a particular time of the year and it’s only available to import in the month at the end of August/beginning of September,” he explained.

Sanofi brings most of its drug supplies into the UK via the Channel Tunnel, a route that faced long delays in 2005 due to a lorry drivers’ strike.

Mr Fry added: “We’re doing everything possible to make sure that everyone will get their medicines and vaccines so that they can be reassured and they don’t have to worry about it.”

Sanofi is the latest pharmaceutical giant to lay out the problems it is likely to face after a disorderly Brexit.

In January, German chemical drugs firms said Theresa May’s government must avoid a hard Brexit in order to safeguard the supply of medicines to the UK.

VCI, the industry body for German drug manufacturers, warned that transitional arrangements were needed to avoid the worst consequences for drug supplies.

The UK was one of the largest buyers of German medicines last year but trade in pharmaceuticals between the two nations collapsed 10 per cent to €16bn (£13.5bn) from €17.7bn in 2017, according to VCI.

“A disorderly Brexit would create such a complex situation that it is impossible for companies to prepare for all eventualities,” said Utz Tillmann, managing director of VCI.