HC Deb 20 June 1996 vol 279 cc562-3W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will list the members for the day who attended the meeting of the Committee on Safety of Medicines held on 13 October 1995; [31866]

(2) how many full members of the Committee on Safety of Medicines were present at the meeting of the committee held on 13 October 1995. [31862]

Mr. Malone

Proceedings of the committee are confidential.

Mr. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) of 19 December 1995,Official Report, column 1150, if he will list the factors which led to the choice of Professor Rawlins and Professor Langman to attend the meeting of the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products on 26 to 27 October. [31895]

Mr. Malone

Professor Rawlins and Professor Langman attended the meeting on the basis of their long-standing expertise in pharmacoepidemiology, and in their capacities as chairman of the Committee on Safety of Medicines and chairman of the Sub-Committee on Pharmacovigilance respectively.

Mr. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral statement of 23 October 1995,Official Report, column 701, of what data the Medicines Control Agency requested an expedited analysis. [31864]

Mr. Malone

The Medicines Control Agency requested an expedited analysis of the data on venous thromboembolism from the transnational case control study. The Medicines Control Agency discussed with the investigators the availability of information on the relative risks of myocardial infarction and stroke with different oral contraceptives and understood that substantive data would not be available for one to two years.

Mr. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 December 1995,Official Report, columns 521–24, if he will list the members for the day of the Committee on Safety of Medicines during the period 1 January 1995 to 31 December 1995. [31860]

Mr. Malone

The information requested will be contained in the committee's annual report which will be published in due course.

Mr. Hughes

to ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 December 1995,Official Report, columns 520–21, if all members and co-opted members of the Committee on Safety of Medicines received at 10.30 am on 12 October the papers relating to desogestrel and gestodene which had been dispatched on 11 October. [31861]

Mr. Malone

I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave him on 1 April,Official Report, column 53, and on 16 April, Official Report, column 487.

Mr. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health which individual in the World Health Organisation in July 1995 made available preliminary results from the World Health Organisation study on oral contraceptives to the Medicines Control Agency. [31911]

Mr. Malone

The preliminary results from the study were provided to the Medicines Control Agency by the World Health Organisation in confidence.