The UK's parallel-export and hoarding list: the busiest year of additions since it began

How the list works

Since 2019 the Human Medicines Regulations have let the Department of Health and Social Care list medicines that wholesale dealers may not parallel-export from the UK or hoard. The restriction sits in regulation 43(2) and is a condition of the wholesale dealer’s licence; breaching it is a criminal offence. It applies to wholesalers, not to marketing authorisation holders, and stock produced to fulfil a contract with an overseas customer is exempt.

A medicine goes on the list when three things are true: it is needed by UK patients, it is in, or at risk of, a critical shortage, and parallel export would contribute to that shortage. Medicines come off when the shortage resolves. The list is a gov.uk publication, updated without a fixed cadence, and the only safe practice is to check it before every export.

What moved in 2026

Date	Change
16 January 2026 (effective 17 January)	Aspirin, all forms, added
March 2026	Rivastigmine and dinoprostone added (single source; verify)
7 July 2026	Cyclophosphamide added
10 July 2026	Glucagon and terbutaline removed
7 August 2026	Ramipril added
9 September 2026	Raltitrexed added
29 September 2026	Levothyroxine tablets, pentostatin, topotecan, cytarabine and mesna injection added

Aspirin and ramipril are two of the most widely dispensed generics in England; the September batch is almost entirely hospital oncology lines. The year’s additions reflect the pattern in the Department’s August 2025 supply-resilience policy: earlier detection of shortages, and faster use of the export ban as one of the tools.

What it means if you are…

A parallel exporter or wholesaler. The list is a condition of your licence. Build the check into the export release step, not the sales step, and keep the dated list you checked against, because additions take effect the day after publication. A product moving onto the list while stock is in transit is the awkward case; the exemption for stock produced to fulfil an overseas contract is the only relief, and it is narrow. Hoarding is restricted too, so holding listed product beyond normal demand is itself a breach.

A generics or launch planner. Listing says something about the market: the products added are those where UK supply is short enough that the Department is willing to use the ban. For a generic planner that is a demand signal, and for a company with a marketing authorisation it is a reminder that the Department’s parallel measure is the six-month advance notice of discontinuation or disruption it expects through its reporting portal.

A buyer. The list is a public record of where the Department thinks UK supply is fragile. The serious shortage protocols that let pharmacists substitute strengths or forms run alongside it and are listed by the NHS Business Services Authority.

What to watch

The list itself, which this piece will track. The Department’s consultation on wider pharmacist flexibilities (supplying a different strength, form or quantity outside a declared shortage) closed in December 2025 and had no government response by October 2026. The EU’s pharmaceutical package gives Member States parallel powers to restrict exports on public-health grounds from 2028, covered in the piece on the package’s parallel-trade safeguards.