[U X2] As A "Full Brexit" Looks Less And Less Likely -- We Should Note "An Unintended Consequence"...

UPDATED: 04.10.2019, Late -- Earliest exit date is now October 31, 2019, with a progress report at July -- to the EU. Smile. Told ya'. [End, update.]

Regular readers will recall, that by Q3 2016, we were reporting on the departure of the EU's version of the FDA -- from London.

That has already largely happened -- with the drug regulatory agency decamping to Brussels. 900 very high skill jobs left London, as a result, and re-appeared in the Belgian city Amsterdam (H/T Anon.). As we've said for quite a while here, it seems Brits may not fully exit the EU. . . . ever, actually. But life sciences companies should expect to have to be "on the ground" in Amsterdam Brussels, to get EU approval for new drugs -- regardless of the ultimate outcome of the increasingly byzantine (and dizzying) series of last second votes, in Parliament. Here it is:

. . . .Cécile Jodogne, secretary of state for Foreign Trade at the Region of Brussels, said: “With increasing uncertainty on what the final relationship will look like, we have extended our programme of events with an additional one on 19 March 2019 focusing entirely on those British and international pharmaceutical and life sciences businesses looking for certainty. The only way to guarantee this is to establish a base of operations within the EU and, as the Brexit deadline bears down upon us, there are multiple reasons why businesses should act now to guarantee this presence in the EU.”

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) was one of the first UK-based regulators to leave the UK resulting in the loss of 900 jobs. Regulators wishing to evaluate medicines in the EU must be based in a member state, hence the EMA’s relocation to Amsterdam. . . .

Now you know. . . off -- for a mountain bike ride on a breezy Spring Sunday's afternoon here -- partly cloudy, but warming. Smile. . . .

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