While some believed that leaving the EU would bring opportunities for the UK and its life sciences sector, three years on since the UK departed from the EU, Brexit and COVID-19 were highlighted as the events having the most negative impact on the UK healthcare sector, in a survey conducted by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

In a GlobalData’s survey* titled “Brexit and the Healthcare Industry”, a total of 60% of respondents from the UK and 50% from Europe believed that Brexit had a more damaging effect on the UK healthcare sector compared to the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, or the Russia-Ukraine war. On the other hand, APAC and US respondents believed that the pandemic brought more harmful consequences.

Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research at GlobalData, comments: “The UK officially left its transitional period from the European Single Market and Customs Union in January 2021, when the country was still in lockdown. Even as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic starts to fade, Brexit continues to bring uncertainty for the future of research, manufacturing, funding, talent attraction, regulatory affairs, and trade.”

Even though it is difficult to disentangle the impacts of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK, the impact of Brexit is expected to live longer. The pandemic impacted many countries worldwide, but Brexit is felt most in the UK and Europe. Given how deeply the UK was integrated with the single market, disintegration and the creation of new regulations will take years to complete.

Jakimaviciute concludes: “More than three years on from the withdrawal date, and two years after the completion of the transition period, the same survey suggested that more than 30% of healthcare industry professionals still believed that “No Brexit” would be the best outcome of Brexit for the UK’s healthcare industry. Brexit is not a simple, one-off occurrence, it will take years to get into shape and martialize. Brexit was a risk and only time will show whether the UK will gain or lose more from leaving the EU.”

* A total of 120 pharmaceutical industry professionals participated in the 10-minute survey, which was fielded from February 9, 2023, to March 6, 2023.