Sanofi may airlift flu vaccines into UK after Brexit

pharmafile | March 26, 2019 | News story | Manufacturing and Production EU, France, Sanofi, UK, brexit, channel tunnel, vaccines 

French firm Sanofi would airlift flu vaccines into the UK in the case of a highly disruptive exit from the European Union.

The company would fly in flu vaccines (which cannot be stockpiled) if other transport routes are disrupted after the country leaves the EU, according to Hugo Fry, the Managing Director of Sanofi UK.

“We prepare in different ways and have prepared many different routes into the UK,” Fry said to BBC Radio 5 live’s ‘Wake Up To Money’ show. “If we have to in the end, we will airlift it in.”

“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.”

While Sanofi is planning to stockpile a year’s worth of insulin and vaccines, stockpiling is not an option in the case of the flu vaccine.

“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,” Fry explained.

“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.”

The majority of Sanofi’s supplies come through the Channel Tunnel. In the past, strikes in France led to around four weeks of disruption to the Channel Tunnel supply chain, in 2005.

Louis Goss

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