§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the number of adverse drug reactions relating to fatalities reported to the Committee on Safety of Medicines for the last calendar year for which figures are available; if he will express them as a proportion of all reported adverse drug reactions; and if he will give comparable figures for the past five years.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe following table shows for the last five years the number of reports received by the Committee on Safety of Medicines of suspected adverse reactions to drugs, and the number when death was thought to have been due to the suspected reaction It is emphasised that the existence of these reports does not necessarily imply a casual relationship between medicinal treatment and suspected reaction and death.
(a) No. of reports received by CSM (b) No. of deaths thought due to suspected reaction (c) Col. (b) as percentage of col (a) 1977 11.255 509 4.52 1978 11.873 393 3.31 1979 10,881 356 3.27 1980 10,179 210 2.06 1981 12,357 239 1.93