The DUP has been challenged by Stormont opponents for "cherry-picking" a health report to support its criticisms of Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's party issued a statement saying the think-tank paper was "further confirmation" that the protocol is "disrupting" medicine supplies to Northern Ireland.
But the DUP did not mention that the Nuffield Trust report concludes Brexit itself is having "negative effects" on the UK's workforce, medicines and economy.
The study said that "Brexit has been another blow to resilience already stretched to breaking point" when combined with pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
It said there was "clear evidence" Brexit would likely reduce people's incomes compared to staying in the European Union, which would "likely to lead to worse health outcomes and higher demands of the NHS".
The DUP, which campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, is blocking Stormont power-sharing in protest against Irish Sea trade barriers introduced under the protocol.
The Nuffield Trust report suggested there are growing post-Brexit differences between which medicines are approved for use in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
More than 100 products have been approved for use in Great Britain but not Northern Ireland, while 52 have been granted marketing authorisation for Northern Ireland but not in Britain.
Northern Ireland remains inside the EU's pharmaceutical regulatory system under the protocol.
EU laws were changed last year to ensure medicines entering the region from Britain do not need extra labelling or testing, but some drugs companies say Northern Ireland following EU licensing procedures still presents problems.
Responding to the report, DUP MLA Pam Cameron said that Sinn Fein, Alliance and the SDLP "should now recognise the protocol is bad for Northern Ireland on a number of levels including health".
"This represents a serious divergence in the availability of medicines for patients and health and social care in different parts of our United Kingdom," she added.
Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said medicines can "flow freely into Northern Ireland" and dismissed the DUP's comments as "more spin".
"The report highlights many challenges to the health sector overall, including staff shortages and drugs supply issues UK-wide," he said.
Sinn Féin's Declan Kearney said that "Brexit has disrupted medical supplies in the north and in Britain".
He added: "The DUP can't nitpick their way through reports and skew the findings in accordance with their own political agenda which is creating havoc across the entire healthcare system."
The SDLP accused the DUP of "cherry-picking" the report, saying it highlights the health service is "facing emergencies on many fronts, compounded by Brexit".
The party's health spokesperson Colin McGrath said: "After Jeffrey Donaldson's embarrassing clash and subsequent climbdown with a health trust on the impact of the protocol on health services, I'm surprised that the DUP has jumped feet first into this again.
"If they were genuinely concerned about the challenges patients are facing, they'd get back to work instead of issuing point-scoring statements."
But Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said the report "confirms what we have been warning".
"The Protocol is affecting the availability of certain medicines in Northern Ireland that are accessible in the rest of the United Kingdom," he said.
"There needs to be a lasting solution found that provides equitable access and gives manufacturers certainty."
Stormont's Department of Health said its priority is to maintain "equity of access" to new medicines for Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK.
A spokesman said they continue to work with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to this end.
He added: "This includes utilisation of the Northern Ireland MHRA Authorised Route (NIMAR), which has been designed to ensure that people in Northern Ireland can continue to access medicines should clinical need be unable to be met through authorised products or any other regulatory routes."
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