Regulatory Affairs
Speed Over Scrutiny? The High-Stakes Gamble Behind the NHS's New Fast-Track Drug Pilots
The UK government and the pharmaceutical industry have launched a series of pilot schemes designed to accelerate NHS patient access to innovative medicines - a direct consequence of the US-UK pharmaceutical trade arrangement that has already rewritten the terms of how Britain prices, approves, and funds new drugs. But with a BMJ analysis warning of ยฃ45 billion in diverted NHS resources and up to 229,000 excess deaths by 2036, the pilots are arriving in the middle of one of the most contested healthcare policy disputes in a generation.
06 Jul 2026