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Trump could push up cancer drug prices in trade deal with Boris Johnson, Labour warns

A TRADE deal with US President Donald Trump could cause common medical treatments to rise seven-fold in price, Labour has warned.

Drugs for asthma, diabetes and cancer could all become more expensive after a no-deal Brexit to bring them in line with US market rates.

The US government’s official negotiating objectives for a trade deal with Britain calls for “full-market access” for pharmaceutical products.

Academics from the University of Liverpool found that Novorapid, a treatment for diabetes, costs seven-and-a-half times more in the US, a 10ml vial being £105.60 compared with £14.08 in Britain.

Spiriva, a treatment for asthma, costs nearly six times as much: £194.30 per 30 capsules in the US compared with £33.50 in Britain.

And Neulasta, a drug that helps fight infection during chemotherapy, is nearly three-and-a-half times more expensive in the US.

On average, the world’s top 20 best-selling prescription drugs were over three times more expensive in the US.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth MP said: “Boris Johnson wants to crash out of the EU without a deal and go cap in hand to his good friend Donald Trump for a trade deal that will drive up the cost of vital treatments and pave the way for US corporations to help themselves to parts of our NHS.

“Our health service is already on its knees after nine years of cuts by Conservative governments. It can’t take much more.

“Boris Johnson can’t be trusted with our NHS.”

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