Manufacturing and consumption of generic medicines in the United Kingdom

• Grant number: 24/04069-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: María Mónica Arroyo
• Grantee: Cezar Freitas Barros
• Supervisor: Joel Rabinovich
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: King's College London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/05320-2 - Medicines productive spatial circuits: technical networks and Anápolis (GO) pharmaceutical industry in brazilian regional dynamics., BP.DR

Abstract

As generic medicines consumption increases and industrial activity becomes gradually globalized, it is crucial to understand how these goods are produced and how they arrive at the consumer's hand, as well as to assess if the adopted models are efficient in terms of costs and social development. This project aims to analyse manufacturing and consumption of selected categories of generic drugs in the UK, one of Europe's largest generic markets, from production companies to NHS dispensing and other ways of consumer acquisition. Based on the theoretical framework of Milton Santos, Claude Raffestin, Peter Dicken, Arnold Relman and others, this research includes bibliographical, documental and fieldwork procedures in the United Kingdom, mainly in London, as well as interviews and a cartographic production. It is expected that these results will help understanding the geography of generics production and consumption in the UK, revealing it's strengths, flaws and inherent conflicts, and thus demonstrating the applicability of Economic Geography to development studies.