Hello and welcome to The Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Yesterday, big pharmaceutical companies were grilled by Senate lawmakers about the exorbitant cost of many drugs.

A partial solution to that problem would be repurposing, using existing drugs in new ways.

But the industry and governments have to get the incentives right.

And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's extremely important that the dead are adequately mourned,

with days of crying and wailing. That creates an odd market opportunity. Mourners for hire.

But first...

Statement, the Prime Minister.

There would be chaos if the United Kingdom were to crash out of the European Union without a proper divorce

deal. But after months of widespread worry about that no-deal Brexit, it seems to have been

avoided, for now anyway. With permission, Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the

government's work to secure a withdrawal agreement that can command the support of this House.

The deadline to agree a deal with the EU is in just over a month.

Prime Minister Theresa May has told parliamentarians that if they don't vote in favour of the agreement she's already negotiated,

she will empower them to vote for a delay to Brexit.

So the United Kingdom will only leave without a deal on the 29th of March

if there is explicit consent in the House for that outcome.

Avoiding a no-deal scenario is one of the few aspects of Brexit

for which there is a strong parliamentary majority.

That is not the case for Mrs May's own deal,

which she's still pushing to get through. What's happening in this country at the moment is not the case for Mrs May's own deal, which she's still pushing to get through.

What's happening in this country at the moment is that the government is losing control of events.

...