Is this a threat or a prediction? A Novartis exec says drugmakers could stop launching meds in the UK because of the regulatory hurdles that need to be cleared, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Long delays for new drugs to gain approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the drug regulator, and from the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE), are making the UK uncompetitive for drugmakers, says Subhanu Saxena, Novartis’ UK exec (pictured to the left). “It is becoming expensive to do trials in the UK and hard to launch new drugs,” he tells the paper. “There is a real possibility that drug companies will stop launching drugs in Britain.”

Saxena’s views are likely to increase pressure on NICE to overhaul working practices and start consulting on cost-benefit analysis for new drugs before they have received regulatory approval, rather waiting for the MHRA to complete its work, the Telegraph writes. A Health Select Committee report earlier this month criticised NICE for the length of time - often up to two years - it took to produce a final appraisal for a new drug.

According to Saxena, what has become known as “NICE blight” has delayed two recent launches in the UK - Xolair, the anti-asthma drug, and Lucentis, a treatment for one of the most common causes of blindness. Despite the setbacks, Eric Cornut, Novartis’s head of pharmaceuticals in Europe, said the company was continuing to work with Nice to launch new drugs in Britain.