Health Groups Call on Andy Burnham to Cancel UK-US NHS Drug Deal
Andy Burnham is being urged to abandon the UK-US trade agreement on medicines amid warnings from health organisations and doctors’ groups that the deal is dangerous and prioritises pharmaceutical company profits over NHS patient welfare.
Ministers have defended the agreement, signed in December last year, as a means to help British drug exports avoid tariffs in the US and to provide patients access to potentially life-extending medicines that might otherwise be unavailable.
However, critics accuse the government of yielding to US demands, resulting in billions of pounds extra annual expenditure on drugs supplied to the NHS following pressure from former President Donald Trump. Last week, analysis indicated that the NHS might need to divert £45bn from essential services to fund new medicines under the deal, potentially causing over 200,000 avoidable patient deaths.
Now, Burnham, expected to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister within weeks, faces calls to revoke the agreement and prioritize securing the NHS’s long-term sustainability.
In a letter addressed to the Makerfield MP and seen by , 19 health organisations urge Burnham to scrap the deal amid increasing concern that its terms could be "deadly" for patients.
By 2036, £44.7bn of NHS funds are projected to be redirected from health services to cover higher costs for new medicines under the agreement, unless additional funding is allocated to offset these expenses.
Reduced spending on NHS services is expected to negatively impact public health, with academic research from the University of York, the University of Liverpool, and Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand estimating 229,000 excess deaths by 2036 as a consequence.
The letter, coordinated by the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, calls on Burnham to make a "decisive break" from recent policies and commit to rebuilding the NHS.
Signatories including Medact, the Doctors’ Association UK, and Doctors in Unite also urge Burnham to reconsider Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements at neighbourhood health centres, recent NHS job cuts, the expansion of private providers across health services, and related issues.
Dr Tony O’Sullivan, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired consultant paediatrician, stated: "Donald Trump’s demands for higher drug prices are set to drain an estimated £45bn from the NHS over the next decade. At a time when patients are waiting longer than ever for treatment, handing over billions more to US pharmaceutical giants is like trying to put out a fire while pouring petrol on the flames.
"The NHS is already on life support. Every year, around 16,000 people die unnecessarily because of delays in emergency care, maternity services continue to fail families, and millions are stuck on waiting lists. The last thing the NHS needs is to be forced to bankroll bigger profits for multinational drug companies.
"We are asking Andy Burnham to meet with campaigners and listen to those with deep experience of the NHS and social care. His transition into government is a chance to draw a line under policies that have put corporate interests ahead of patients, restore public trust and staff morale, and recognise that health, care and education are the foundations of a thriving society and economy."
Hope Worsdale, from the patient campaign group Just Treatment, commented: "The deal was signed with Trump to inflate drug company profits and will condemn hundreds of thousands of NHS patients to avoidable deaths.
"It’s a deeply shocking betrayal of the NHS and the British public. Andy Burnham has said this is the last chance to save the Labour party. It is also the last chance to save the NHS," she added. "As prime minister he must deliver the life-saving investment into the NHS that his predecessors failed to prioritise, scrap the dangerous pharma deal and stop private companies ripping off our NHS. Patients deserve and demand nothing less."
Burnham did not respond to ’s inquiries regarding his stance on the UK-US trade deal or whether he intends to repeal it.
In his previous government role as health secretary, Burnham declared shortly after taking office in 2009 that the NHS would be the "preferred provider" of NHS care, aiming to reverse the growing privatisation of health services.
However, a year later, he approved a PFI deal for the Royal Liverpool hospital. Managed by the facilities company Carillion, the project missed its completion deadline by several years and incurred costs £300m above the original budget. Carillion subsequently went into liquidation.
