§ Mr. Tilleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) when he expects the Committee for Safety of Medicines to report on the application from the Upjohn Company for the drug Depo-Provera to be approved for long-term use;
(2) if he will introduce regulations to ensure that all women receiving injective contraceptives such as Depo-Provera should be given a written statement on the nature of the drug and its side effects.
§ Dr. VaughanAs my hon. Friend explained in his reply to the hon. Member on 25 June, Depo-Provera is currently licensed only for use as a short-term contraceptive.—[Vol. 969 c. 90.] I am unable to provide any information about applications made by companies to the licensing authority. These are treated as confidential for commercial reasons.
As regards the provision of information to a patient about a prescribed medicine, this is primarily the responsibility of the prescribing practitioner. Full information about medicines which are available only on prescription, such as Depo-Provera, is made available to practitioners, normally in the form of a data sheet. The practitioner is thus well equipped to convey to a patient such details of a proposed method of treatment as he may judge to be suitable. In these circumstances I do not propose to introduce regulations to require that information about products such as Depo-Provera should be provided directly to patients.