“They will question whether it is ethical to do so. The UK pays some of the world’s lowest prices for branded medicines"

But Dame Kate Bingham, former vaccine tsar, warns the UK's notoriously tight budget for new drugs could undermine the plan

KB: "There is a risk pharma companies will not run clinical trials on innovative drugs here in the UK if there is no prospect of patients ever getting access to those drugs"

The study has ben criticised for providing a blueprint for how to make a pandemic and comes as the UK Government is ramping up biosecurity protections

Patrick Vallance said "the world is waking up" to the threat of man-made diseases as weapons