The country is more reliant than ever on other countries for drugs taken by the vast majority of the population

Verity Bowman

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Verity Bowman is The Telegraph’s Foreign and Global Health Security Reporter, covering conflict, human rights abuses, global development and international health issues, with a particular focus on Ukraine. She previously worked as a News Reporter at the Guardian and was named on the Press Awards' 30 Under 30 list in 2024.

Published 30 September 2026 2:56pm BST

The UK’s medicine supply chain is dangerously exposed to global shocks, experts have warned, with the NHS dependent on a system where much of the world relies on a handful of countries for its drug supplies.

India and China are the backbone of the global medicines market , manufacturing around two-thirds of the world’s active pharmaceutical ingredients.…