§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many unfavourable side-effects of the drug carbamazepine have been reported in the past 10 years; and if he will list them; [24996]
(2) how many people have been treated with carbamazepine for medicinal purposes in the last five years; and how many cases of harmful side-effects have been reported. [24997]
§ Mr. MilburnThe number of patients prescribed carbamazepine is not available. The number of prescription items for carbamazepine dispensed in England from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1996 (the last five years for which data are available) was 8.9 million. During this period, 672 suspected adverse drug reaction reports for carbamazepine were received by the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM).
244WA drug analysis print for carbamazepine, listing all suspected adverse drug reactions reported to the CSM from 1988 to 1997 inclusive will be placed in the Library, together with an information sheet to help with interpretation of the print.