No Deal Brexit could endanger lives of four million Brits with rare diseases
Updated: 12 Dec 2020, 3:35
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A NO-DEAL Brexit would have a detrimental impact on the care received by the four million Brits who suffer from a rare disease, a group of leading clinicians have said.
The warning comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was very, very likely the UK would be leaving the UK without a deal in place.
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The treatment received by four million Brits with a rare disease would suffer in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a group of clinicians have saidCredit: Getty Images - Getty
Experts and patient support groups signed a letter in prestigious journal Lancet
Claims dropping out of Europe without a deal on January 1 will endanger lives
It could see Briain lose access to networks established to research rare diseases
These so-called ERNs allow for crucial research to take place internationally and a no deal Brexit will leave the 4 million Brits with rare diseases at a disadvantage
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Experts have warned that a no deal Brexit will result in the exclusion of the UK from the 24 European Reference Networks (ERNs) that were established to improve the care of patients bearing the lifelong burden of a rare disease, which require highly specialised diagnosis and treatment.
One in 17 UK citizens lives with a rare disease, which are defined as conditions that affect fewer than one in 2,000 people in the general population. A group of experts has written to
The Lancet highlighting their concerns about the detrimental impact a no deal Brexit will have on these individuals. Rare diseases are rare, and experts are rarer still, said Dr Marc Tischkowitz from the University of Cambridge, who helped coordinate the letter. European Reference Networks were set up because no single country has the expertise or resources to cover all of the known rare diseases, which number in the thousands. They ve played a pivotal role in harnessing the collective knowledge across