Committee on Safety of Medicines

HC Deb 15 February 1990 vol 167 cc392-3W

Mr. Hayes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether adverse reaction data submitted to the Committee of Medicines on yellow cards is the property of the Committee on Safety of Medicines.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

National Health Service personal health information, from which adverse drug reactions (ADR) data are usually derived, will be the subject of a forthcoming circular. Yellow cards are issued by the statutory committees on safety of medicines and on dental and surgical materials for use by doctors, dentists and coroners in a voluntary scheme for reporting suspected ADRs. The information received is treated in strict confidence by those committees and the licensing authority.