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Anti-Brexit Group Can't Bring No-Deal Drug Policy Challenge

Anti-Brexit Group Can't Proceed With Case on No-Deal Drug Policy

(Bloomberg) -- An 11th-hour lawsuit challenging the government’s plans for drug supplies in a no-deal Brexit can’t go ahead, a London judge ruled Friday, dismissing a lawsuit that could’ve potentially triggered a race against the clock to change critical healthcare rules.

The Good Law Project -- a non-profit group that says Brexit is a “terrible idea” -- lost its bid to bring a court challenge over government plans to let pharmacists give patients alternative medications to those prescribed by their doctor in some cases, if a no-deal Brexit leads to serious drug shortages.

  • Ruling by Judge Michael Supperstone came shortly before Members of Parliament voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time.
  • Judgment “swallows wholesale the arguments advanced by the government,” Jolyon Maugham, who runs the Good Law Project, said by email
    • The group is considering an appeal, Maugham said

To contact the reporter on this story: Kaye Wiggins in London at kwiggins4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman

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